The “good health” of the iron and steel industry economy of the Arab world

The Arab world has been less affected by the financial crisis of 2008–2009 than many other regions of the world. As an illustration, the apparent steel consumption has been growing to a level of 40 to 45 Mt/year, like in China or India but not so fast. The steel production is also growing, but is still in the range of 15 to 17 Mt/year: the region is a large steel importer, around 30 Mt/year. It is interesting to note that this trade is, essentially, between the two sides of the Mediterranean Sea. Regarding the production, it must be remembered that this area has the special feature of being based on the direct reduction of the iron ores through the natural gas-based processes such as Midrex** or Energiron (ex – HYL). Steelmaking is carried out in EAF (electric arc furnaces) and it must be noted that, in the Marrakesh congress, the Turkish delegation mentioned that a new company in this country is designing and manufacturing electric arc furnaces for mini-mills based on scrap. A last point has to be stressed: the diversification of the steel products made in the Arab world. After a time where the emphasis was on light long products (reinforcing bars and light profiles), the production is now moving to heavy products such as beams and tubes, and flat products.