Pakistan EAF company plans IPO

A Pakistan-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking firm says it anticipates raising some $30 million via an initial public offering of stock shares.

A mid-September news item from Bloomberg indicates Agha Steel Industries Ltd. intends to offer the shares this fall, and it credits a Pakistani infrastructure boom “financed by China” as providing an optimistic demand outlook for its steel.

The company’s Executive Director Hussain Agha indicated at a 2017 steel industry event that he anticipated an IPO in the steel firm’s future.

In a presentation at that time, Agha referred to Pakistan as a “rising star” in the global economy and portrayed the nation as having imported 2.4 million metric tons of ferrous scrap in 2016. He also predicted the total would reach 3.8 million metric tons in 2017. In 2016, the United States sent about 200,000 tons of ferrous scrap to Pakistan, trailing the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa as the largest shippers.

U.S. Census Bureau figures show the U.S. shipped 210,000 metric tons of ferrous scrap to Pakistan in just the first four months of 2020, putting America on track to send more than 600,000 metric tons of scrap this year. In 2020, Pakistan trails only Turkey, Mexico, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Bangladesh, India and Canada as leading U.S. ferrous scrap export destinations in the first four months.

In addition to Chinese-funded power plant and dam projects, the Bloomberg item says a tax amnesty program in Pakistan allowing former evaders to invest in housing also is acting as a driver for steel demand there.