GPH becomes first local steel mill to export billet
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Jasim Uddin Haroon
The country's youngest steel manufacturer said it has become the country's first company to export billet worth US$2.5 million amid high demand for its products in the Gulf nations and South East Asia.
GPH Ispat Limited, a Chittagong-based steel manufacturer, exported 2500 tonnes of billet, an intermediate raw material for manufacturing mild steel (MS) rod, to Sri Lanka early this week and was in negotiations with two other countries."We completed our export to Sri Lanka this (Monday) morning. We are now talking with importers from Laos and the United Arab Emirates to export another 6000 tonnes of billet there," Md Jahangir Alam, chairman and managing director of GPH.
The demand for rod and steel products surged in the UAE and Laos amid boom in construction activities in the two of Asia's fastest growing economies.
"Buyers from the both countries have visited our factory and are impressed with our products. Our price is also competitive," Alam said.
GPH --- which is the acronym of God, Plain-living and High-thinking - has started its operation in June this year and its Tk1.50 billion state-of-the-art factory has a capacity to produce 250 tonnes of billet and 400 tonnes of mild steel rod a day.
It also installed a world class a German-made test laboratory styled Aspactro - the first of its kind in the country -- in its factory at Sitakundu. The laboratory can test 26 components of billet or rod at a time.
Alam, said his company is currently exporting its products mainly because of falling prices of billet and rod in local market.
"We exported billet to Sri Lanka at more than $1000 a tonne. But its price in the local market is less than $ 900 a tonne," he said, adding his company imports scraps from the United States and Canada to melt them into billet and MS Rod.
The company has also installed a 12 megawatt power plant on the factory premises to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply.
Bangladesh's annual demand for MS rod is around 2.0 million tonnes, with bulk of the amount produced by the country's more than 100 re-rolling and steel mills.
Chittagong-based Bangladesh Steel and Rerolling Mills (BSRM) is the market leader, accounting for almost one fifth of the total demand.
The country's youngest steel manufacturer said it has become the country's first company to export billet worth US$2.5 million amid high demand for its products in the Gulf nations and South East Asia.
GPH Ispat Limited, a Chittagong-based steel manufacturer, exported 2500 tonnes of billet, an intermediate raw material for manufacturing mild steel (MS) rod, to Sri Lanka early this week and was in negotiations with two other countries."We completed our export to Sri Lanka this (Monday) morning. We are now talking with importers from Laos and the United Arab Emirates to export another 6000 tonnes of billet there," Md Jahangir Alam, chairman and managing director of GPH.
The demand for rod and steel products surged in the UAE and Laos amid boom in construction activities in the two of Asia's fastest growing economies.
"Buyers from the both countries have visited our factory and are impressed with our products. Our price is also competitive," Alam said.
GPH --- which is the acronym of God, Plain-living and High-thinking - has started its operation in June this year and its Tk1.50 billion state-of-the-art factory has a capacity to produce 250 tonnes of billet and 400 tonnes of mild steel rod a day.
It also installed a world class a German-made test laboratory styled Aspactro - the first of its kind in the country -- in its factory at Sitakundu. The laboratory can test 26 components of billet or rod at a time.
Alam, said his company is currently exporting its products mainly because of falling prices of billet and rod in local market.
"We exported billet to Sri Lanka at more than $1000 a tonne. But its price in the local market is less than $ 900 a tonne," he said, adding his company imports scraps from the United States and Canada to melt them into billet and MS Rod.
The company has also installed a 12 megawatt power plant on the factory premises to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply.
Bangladesh's annual demand for MS rod is around 2.0 million tonnes, with bulk of the amount produced by the country's more than 100 re-rolling and steel mills.
Chittagong-based Bangladesh Steel and Rerolling Mills (BSRM) is the market leader, accounting for almost one fifth of the total demand.