Kuwait Unisteel Rolling Mill Company – established with Iran's cooperation -started pilot production last week.
The company was built in 21 months with an investment of €77 million, IRNA reported.
With a production capacity of 240,000 tons of rolling mill products per annum, the company is capable of producing steel products in sizes ranging from 8 inches to 40 inches.
The company has a capacity to increase annual production by 160,000 tons.
Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) owns 49 percent of the Kuwaiti company's share.
The nominal rolling mill production capacity of the complex, which was earlier put at 650,000 tons per year, currently amounts to 900,000 tons per annum.
The industrial unit has created 165 direct jobs in Kuwait.
Unisteel Rolling Mill Company is a part of Kuwait Steel Complex project that will go on stream in 2015 with an annual production capacity of 850,000 tons.
The complex holds 62 percent of the country's domestic market share.
In June, 2014, Deputy Minister of Industries, Mines and Trade and IMIDRO Chairman Mehdi Karbasian and Managing Director of Kuwait Steel Company Avvad al-Khaledi signed an agreement for construction of steel complex.
After signing the agreement, Karbasian said the agreement stipulates that in the first stage, the two sides will build a direct reduced iron facility with an annual output capacity of 1.6 million tons, construct a steel mill with a production capacity of 1 million tons per year.
The two sides will establish a rolling mill production unit in the third stage with a capacity of 1 million tons per annum and build a pelletizing plant with a capacity of 5 million tons of pellets annually.
Karbasian noted that IMIDRO is committed to provide land for the construction of the mills and supply 100 million cubic feet of gas and 200 megawatts of electricity for implementing the project.
Avvad al-Khaledi said the fund for implementing the projects would be secured by Kuwaiti financial institutions with a low interest rate.
Iran Daily
10 November
