High levels of lead: China 'dumping unsafe steal' in Saudi Arabia

China is supplying huge quantities of unsafe steel products to projects in Saudi Arabia due to lack of effective controls by the government, a report said.

China’s exports of steel to Saudi Arabia amounted to about 163,000 tonnes in the first 10 months of 2014, representing nearly 70 per cent of domestic demand; anEmirates 24/7 report quoted Raed Al-Ajaji, chairman of the Saudi Universal Metal Coating Company Ltd (Unicoil) as saying, citing Okaz Arabic language daily.

“The problem is not only in these large supplies, which amount to flooding and dumping, but also in the quality of these products. Our tests showed steel sheets imported from China violate international specifications,” he said.

While the steel sheets were supposed to be 0.32 mm thick, but tests showed they are about 0.26 mm, said Al-Ajaji.

“The most shocking result in the tests was that the coating of most Chinese steel products supplied to the Saudi market contained very high levels of lead, which is internationally banned.

"The tests showed that the lead levels in some samples were as high as 50 times the level permitted internationally,” he said.

Al-Ajaji explained that steel production in Saudi Arabia was around 380,000 tonnes per year and consumption at 255,000 tonnes, reported Emirates 24/7.