Chairman of the National Iron and Steel Industry Committee, Al-Sulaim: Saudi Arabia has made tremendous progress in the steel sector over the past 40 years

The Chairman noted that the conference stood out for its strong participation from both the public and private sectors, as well as for its focus on actionable recommendations.

In his speech, Al-Sulaim discussed the progress made by Saudi Arabia’s iron and steel industry. He recalled that the country’s steel sector began in the late 1960s with a single rebar plant and an annual production capacity of 100.000 tons. The real breakthrough, however, came in 1983 with the establishment of the Saudi Iron and Steel Company – Hadeed, which built the first integrated iron and steel production complex with an annual capacity of 1 million tons.

Today, Saudi Arabia ranks 20th globally and among the leading countries in the Arab world, with an annual molten iron production capacity exceeding 9 million tons. Al-Sulaim noted that over 150 million tons of long and flat steel products have been produced over the past 40 years, making the Kingdom home to one of the largest and most efficient steel industries in the Middle East.

The Chairman emphasized that these developments are aligned with the implementation of the National Iron Strategy and projects such as the planned Iron and Steel Academy in the Kingdom, underscoring the critical role of iron and steel in industrial and economic development.