Oman’s newest steel mill set for launch in Suhar

A new steel complex is due to shortly come into operation at Sohar Industrial City in North Al Batinah Governorate, bolstering the nation’s production capacity of strategically important commodities such as rebars for the construction industry. Moon Iron & Steel Company SAOC (MISCO) is preparing to bring its 1.2 million tons capacity steel plant into commercial production in the first quarter of this year, the company announcement on its website. The estimated $300 million project is promoted by Oman Development Fund SAOC, Gulf Investment Corporation, and the Sultan’s Special Forces Pension Fund, among other shareholders. MISCO’s state-of-the-art steel mill features equipment primarily sourced from SMG Group, a well-reputed German supplier of plant machinery for the global steel, aluminium and metallurgical industry. Steelworks will include a 140-ton electric arc furnace, a 140-ton ladle furnace and a five-strand continuous billet caster, collectively designed to produce 1.2 million tons per year of billet. Of this output, around 1.1 million tons will be rolled into rebars. A high-speed delivery system will enable the rollout of finished rebars at speeds of 41 metres per second.