Oman's Muscat Steel proceeds with its investment projects. The company launched construction of a new steelmaking complex in September and currently it performs foundation work.

Equipment is expected to arrive in December, with installation to follow in January 2013. Cold trials of the units are planned for April to May and the start of commercial production for early July.

The investment program also involves installation of a second rebar mill. Assembly is expected to begin in January 2013 and commissioning is scheduled in September 2013. Muscat Steel also plans to expand its steelmaking capacity to 400,000 by installing a second electric steelmaking complex (200,000 tpy), but details of the project are not disclosed.

A company representative said that the company is operating a rebar mill (150,000 tpy) running at full capacity at the moment. It sources semis from abroad, the USA and Brazil in particular.