Saudi Arabia megaproject Neom says it needs 20% of the world’s steel

The major Saudi Arabian megacity construction Neom is currently using 20 percent of the world’s steel, according to a spokesperson for the project.

Neom is a 10,200 sq mi area in northwest Saudi Arabia that has been turned into the world’s biggest construction site as an urban living megaproject launched in 2017 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is underway.

Its flagship development is the horizontal city The Line, which will stretch across 105 miles with the ability to house 9 million people. Other projects include a winter resort called Trojena, 12 luxury resorts called Magna, the Sindalah island resort, and a planned industrial city called Oxagon.

Manar Al Moneef, Neom’s chief investment officer, spoke at the Global Logistics Forum in Riyadh on the weekend of October 13. According to the business news outlet Arabian Gulf Business Insight, she said, “Neom is going to be the largest customer [in logistics] over the next decade. If you look at our demand in logistics it’s 5 percent of the global logistics market.”

She added, “We are 20 percent of the global steel market. If you look at our demand in elevators, cement and so on … Put simply, Neom is going to be the largest customer over the next few decades.”

Dr Andrzej Kotas, a steel industry consultant with over 20 years’ experience and chief executive of steel industry news outlet Steel On The Net, told Newsweek that this is an unprecedented “colossal amount” of steel for one construction.

“I can’t think of any projects that come anywhere near that,” he said. “You sometimes have some very large transnational oil and gas pipelines, but nothing comes near to 20 percent of the world’s consumption.”

Kotas added, “It leaves anything else absolutely way behind, really.”

Since Saudi Arabia is not a major steel producer, it is likely they are buying a lot of their steel from overseas.

According to Statista, the largest global producer of steel is China, which produces vastly more steel than any other country. In 2023, China produced 67.4 million metric tons (mmt) of steel. The second highest producer of steel, India, produced only 12.1mmt.

The United States is the fourth highest producer with 6.8mmt in 2023.

The official cost of building Neom was anticipated to be $500 billion, although analysts believe it will likely cost a lot more, the BBC reported. The country as a whole has spent $1.3 trillion on building and infrastructure over the last eight years.

Saudi Arabia is also preparing to host soccer’s World Cup in 2034 and the World Expo in 2030. The World Cup stadium is expected to be built as part of Neom, and ready for the games a decade away.

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