LCCI launches directory of iron & steel

Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has launched its directory of iron and steel which is one of the LCCI's initiatives to promote the business activities. The data of over 700 companies has been divided into various categories of manufacturers, exporters, importers, traders and services. The directory of iron and steel will prove an essential reference for every firm having business interests in iron and steel sectors of Pakistan.
Commenting on the directory, LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad said that LCCI is the only chamber of commerce in the country which is regularly publishing the sector-specific directories for its members. The directory has been designed to help business entrepreneurs to know about the businesses and would enable the businessmen community to be more involved with the economic development activities, he added. Pakistan is a developing economy with abundant potential to attain faster industrial growth. However, sustainable industrial and economic growth depends on an assured supply of steel, he said. Therefore, planning for steel production should be a critical part of overall development planning of the country, he added.
The steel production in the world has risen by approximately 30 percent in the past 25 years, he maintained. LCCI president said the iron and steel industry holds the key to sustained growth of the engineering sector and hence to the development of the economy as a whole. As such the steel industry can be termed as the mother industry to all modern industries for being the basic source of metal for them, he added.
He said the engineering goods industry is recognised across the world as most critical for the development of a self-reliant and vibrant economy. This industry, however, depends heavily on basic metals industry, specially the iron and steel industry for the supply of resource inputs, he added. He lauded the efforts of convener of LCCI standing committee on iron and steel, Raja Adeel Ashfaq, for bringing out such an informative directory that would help foreigner businessmen to contact the right business persons in Pakistan. LCCI publishes its monthly magazine Lahore Chamber News, LCCI Classified Trade Directory, Annual Report and Iron & Steel Directory on regular basis while work on first of its kind the LCCI 50 years and a book on Lahore is well on the way, he added.