Posted on 17 Oct 2025
Saudi Arabia’s steel industry is positioning itself to meet surging domestic demand and strengthen supply chain resilience through strategic expansions, alignment with national programmes, and localisation initiatives, Kallanish notes.
Hadeed, the kingdom’s national steel champion, has studied steel product imports extensively to determine which can be produced locally. Its hot strip mill expansion project, set to start construction in 2026, with a 2.5 million tonnes/year capacity, will cover most of Saudi Arabia’s imported flat steel requirement, Hadeed chief executive Abdulqader Al-Mubarak said during this week’s Saudi International Iron and Steel Conference in Riyadh, for which Kallanish is programme partner.
"Saudi steel demand is set to grow 7-8% in 2025 and 9-10% year-on-year in 2026, driven by major strategic projects, supported by a young generation with a 4% population growth, and GDP expansion of 3.6-3.9%," he explained.
In parallel, Saudi Aramco is advancing its heavy steel plate strategy, partnering with world-leading Baosteel to produce 1.5m t/y of plate at Ras Al Khair. The project, supported by gas and land allocations, incentive packages, and a dedicated economic zone, aims to replace almost all imported plate, serve domestic industries, support the shipbuilding sector, generate jobs, and contribute to Vision 2030 objectives, according to Saudi Aramco vice president of industrial investment Abdallah Al Thaaly.
Saudi Arabia’s broader national strategy, under the National Industrial Strategy (NIS), emphasises the steel sector as a cornerstone of a fully integrated industrial ecosystem. The government expects Saudi steel consumption to rise from 16mt in 2024 to 24-26mt by 2040, with high-value, specialised flat steel products increasingly demanded by sectors such as automotive, defence, machinery, and renewable energy, stated Saudi deputy minister for mining development Turki Abdulrahman Al-Babtain.
Saudi steelmakers are leveraging local advantages, including SIDF financing, competitive utilities, and infrastructure, while maintaining global competitiveness. Sustainability is a key differentiator, with Saudi players already among the lowest carbon-intensity producers worldwide, thanks to natural gas-based DRI installations and a relatively low-carbon electricity grid, he added.
Source:Kallanish
