India's exports of steel products to Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council, and Indian investors’ participation in investment projects in the region will continue to grow in the coming years. So said Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) managing director Vidya S. Sharma at the first Saudi International Iron and Steel conference in Riyadh last week.

"India is a natural supplier to the GCC,” he observed at the event supported by Kallanish. “The industry will definitely grow and there will be more exports to the Middle East.” He underlined the relationship between India's ambitious target to produce 300 million tonnes/year of crude steel by 2030, and Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 strategy.

Sharma said Indian and Saudi investors should come together in order to realise Saudi Arabia's ambitious plan to increase its crude steel production and launch production of flat and special steel products. The latter are currently imported. Saudi’s pipe and defence industries are especially sensitive to the lack of relevant domestic steel products output.

"Jindal wants to grow in downstream products in the Middle East and Southeast Asia," Sharma. The abundance of cheap natural gas in Saudi is a boon to electric arc furnace steelmakers, singling out the EAF route as the most appropriate for the region, he added.