Standard Metallurgical pledges loyalty to local market
STANDARD Metallurgical Company (SMC) has reiterated its commitment to fully servicing local demands before venturing into exportation of its products, even though it can conveniently do so now with the recent completion of the factory’s second phase.
The Managing Director of the company, Dr. Mohammed Saade, stated this last week, during the visit of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, to the plant in Igbafa Village, Shagamu, Ogun State. Explaining that the corporation is multi-phase investment, Saade saidthe factory’s uniqueness lies in the fact that it will be the first to manufacture billets that are suitable for production of wire rods in Nigeria.
“The concept of the factory is based on backward integration. All wire rods produced in Nigeria today are made from imported billets. But in two, three months time, SMC will be producing billets from which standard wire rods and zinc can be made in Nigeria, using raw materials that are sourced locally. This makes us truly made in Nigeria,” he said.
Presently, the plant, through its first phase, is manufacturing 300,000 tonnes of wire rods per reel, but Saade said the goal is to produce 260,000 to 320,000 tonnes of billet to enable it meet local demand. Nigeria requires about 600,000 tonnes of wire rods and with other companies joining the industry, there will be excess.
After taking the Minister and his entourage, which included the Director of ICT, Industrial Training Fund, Dickson Onuoha, on a tour of the sprawling factory, Saade said the company’s aim is to aid growth in Nigeria’s economy, help reduce unemployment rate, and importation of steel.