There is indication that Nigeria is set to join the league of steel exporting company as African Industries Group, the largest steel manufacturer in the country, has started exporting the product to Morocco, Egypt and Ghana.
Speaking ahead of the unveiling of the company’s export strides to government officials, bank chiefs and other stakeholders in Lagos, next week, Raj Gupta, Chairman, African Industries Group, said the company has been working aggressively to put Nigeria on the global map of steel producers and exporters.
He said the company is currently exporting 200,000 metric tonnes yearly out of its one million metric tonnes per annum production capacity.
The Group Executive Director, Legal/Corporate Affairs, Uche Iwuamadi, added that with this move, Nigeria is now shifting from imports-oriented economy to that of an export giant.
He said, “Nigeria is known for being an import oriented economy and is now entering a real world map of exporters, not of raw materials or agric produces but a classical industrialised products like iron rods.
“The beauty of it all is, we started from the African landscape by exporting to Morocco, Egypt and Ghana, which is quite remarkable because countries like Morocco and Egypt can easily bring in some steel but they found Nigerian steel of the highest quality. That is a start. The next thing is to go beyond Africa.”
