Ittefaq Steel to invest over Rs 20 billion to upgrade output capacity

Ittefaq Steel, the largest steel bar manufacturers, will invest over Rs 20 billion during the next three years to enhance its production capacity up to two million tons by the end of 2010. Addressing a press conference during Build Asia exhibition at Karachi Expo Centre here on Thursday.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mian Usman Jaweed and Marketing Manager Raqim Raza said that Ittefaq Steel, at present, had steel bar production capacity of 150,000 tons annually, which would reach 225,000 tons in March next year.
They said that recently NESPAK had also approved Ittefaq's Steel bars for its projects, while the Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) had already issued quality certificate to it.
"We have launched our products in Karachi from August and now Ittefaq Steel's bars would be available in Karachi at lower price," they added. They said that for the first time, Ittefaq had participated in the Build Asia exhibition and had got a lot of encouragement, adding: " Emmar, a leading construction group of Dubai, has also selected our steel bar for its all projects, initiated in Pakistan".
Ittefaq is the leading steel rolling mill in the country with a capability to manufacture international quality products with various standards such as DIN, ASTM etc they added.
They said that state-of-the-art rolling mill could produce structure steel with close tolerance and the required mechanical properties, and cater to the stringent requirements for critical applications.
"Ittefaq Steel is also able to minimise the lead time required to provide consistence with international quality structural steel. For quality production of structural steel, Ittefaq Steel was equipped with most modern state of the art technology in their premises," they said.
On the occasion, head of EC Getaway Khurshid Nizam spoke about the achievements of the exhibition, and said that more than 50 percent companies had already booked their stalls for the next year's exhibition.
He said that over 257 foreign delegates from 27 countries had participated in Build Asia exhibition, besides over 450 stalls were managed by the 150 local and international companies. "For the first time, the Italian companies have also participated in the exhibition and after getting huge orders, they have booked over 100 stalls in a single hall of the Karachi Expo centre," he said.