Disco plant ready to supply Sadc with steel

Freedom Mupanedemo

Midlands Bureau

Steel firm, Dinson Iron and Steel Company (Disco) in Manhize is set to start producing steel billets next month following the switching on of furnaces, marking the production of pig iron, plant project manager Mr Wilfred Motsi said yesterday.

Pig iron is the major raw material in the processing of steel.

Speaking after a tour of the plant by officials from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce yesterday, Mr Motsi said a new era of steel industry was in the making in Zimbabwe, with the US$1 billion steel plant ready to produce tonnes of steel bars.

Disco would take advantage of the 7th SADC Industrialisation Week scheduled for July 28 to August 2 to showcase its capacity to produce steel in enough quantities for all the construction work requirements of the region.

“We are very excited that our test runs are going on very well. We are just producing 6 percent of our capacity in the form of pig iron in our test runs,” he said.

The production of steel billets will start in two to three weeks and is expected to be at 100 percent in a month’s time as they begin the production of steel billets for the local and export markets.

“There will be an array of steel products that we will be producing once we reach that stage of production,” he said.

The steel company has already clinched deals with  local and regional companies.

“What is of interest is that we have already clinched some deals with several companies that have shown interest in doing business with us.

“Remember industrialisation is anchored on steel products and so is mining and agriculture,” he said.

The company is also considering spreading its wings to Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and beyond.

“What we have here is a huge investment which is already shaping the country’s industrialisation drive. We are saying there will be a new city here where we anticipate a lot of downstream activities. The opportunities here are quite huge and we will be using the SADC Industrialisation Week to market the area as well,” he said.

Once all the phases are complete, the company anticipates to produce five million tonnes of steel per year.

Disco is a subsidiary of global steel making giant, Tsingshan Holdings Group of China.