China helps Iraq develop iron ore industry
One of the Iraqi government's priorities is to revive the iron and steel industry's reserves by rehabilitating facilities or building new ones. However, the financing and technology needed to activate this sector require large investments, which is why Baghdad has opted to seek help from China, a country that is increasingly increasing its presence in the Middle East.
In this regard, the Iraqi state-owned iron and steel company has announced a recent agreement reached by the government with a Chinese company to establish an industrial city. The company also confirmed Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani's interest in supporting the steel industry to advance the country's development.
"There is great governmental interest from the highest executive authority, represented by the Prime Minister, in industrial projects that have been suspended for more than two decades," said the company's director, Abbas Hayal, in statements reported by Al-Arab.
Hayal also stressed that the government's interest "does not depend only on making allocations in the budget law", but that there are plans by the prime minister and through the Minister of Industry and Minerals for "development and progress".
China's involvement in this important industry highlights the existence of enormous challenges on the part of the financing authorities to revive the steel and iron ore factories. These challenges are based, in part, on the consequences of years of war and corruption throughout the country.
Despite this, companies in the sector are trying to re-emerge and take their place in the local market despite the difficulties they face due to the crisis and the deteriorating infrastructure of their factories and laboratories.
This industrial sector has deteriorated significantly since the US invasion in 2003 as a result of war, terrorism, corruption and the absence of practical plans to move the industry forward.
Iraq has been trying to stimulate the industry for years
Four years ago, with the aim of boosting the sector, Baghdad adopted a plan to rehabilitate the 83 iron factories in various regions of the country after they were destroyed. There is also a special committee to monitor the industry's development. Among the urgent demands is the protection of the local product.
In this regard, it is worth noting that the state-owned iron ore factory in Basra has a capacity of more than 600,000 tonnes per year, according to data from the Ministry of Industry.
A study conducted two years ago by the Rawabet Centre for Research and Strategic Studies revealed that metallic iron is particularly concentrated in the desert southwest of Anbar, and that the country's reserve is estimated at around 60 million tonnes.
With government factories almost out of operation, attempts by the private sector to invest in the field emerged in the early part of the last decade.
For example, in 2013, a private factory was built next to the old government factory in the Khor Al-Zubair area. In late 2020, the Investment Authority also granted a licence to a local company to build a factory in the same area with an annual production capacity of 127,000 tonnes.
In May 2021, the KRG inaugurated Iraq's largest iron and steel production plant with a production capacity of 350,000 tonnes worth $100 million.
