Iraq is planning this year to open its first industrial zone which is dedicated to steel industries to cater for the local and foreign markets.

The steel city project is part of four industrial zones that will be inaugurated in 2025 with the aim of attracting investment in petrochemicals, steel and other products, the official Al-Sabah daily said on Wednesday.

The zone in the Southern oil hub of Basra is Iraq’s largest industrial cluster for steel products, the paper said.

The Industry Ministry said in 2024 it had awarded the Basra zone project to China’s Tsingshan Holding Group, which was among several firms that had bidden for the project.

“This project will be dedicated to steel industries, aluminium and other metals..it will be built on a 7,500-square-metre site in Basra,” Riad Jazim, deputy director of industrial cities at the Industry and Metals Ministry, said last year.

It was not immediately clear if that firm would execute the project as part of an oil-for-projects agreement signed by Iraq and China five years ago. The deal stipulates that Chinese firms execute projects in Iraq in exchange for oil supplies.

Alsabah reported that another zone would be inaugurated in the Northern Mosul city for light and medium petrochemical industries.

Two other industrial areas have also been completed and would be opened this year in the Northern Nineveh Governorate and in the Eastern Wasit Governorate.

“We are preparing to open four new industrial cities in those areas this year…they are part of a government plan to offer various facilities local and foreign investors, including incentives to global firms wishing to set up projects in these zones,”Jassim told Alsabah.

Iraq, OPEC’s second largest oil producer, has been locked in a post-war drive to rebuild its infrastructure and attract capital to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

Subscribe to our Projects' PULSE newsletter that brings you trustworthy news, updates and insights on project activities, developments, and partnerships across sectors in the Middle East and Africa.