Libyan Iron and Steel Company (LISCO)

Steel Plants

The company’s steel production is spread across two separate facilities, which allows it to produce several different steel products. Its billets and blooms plant has an annual designed production capacity of 670,000 tonnes of liquid steel which converts to 630,000 tonnes; this was expanded in 2008 to produce one million tonnes. The plant uses three electrical arc furnaces which each have a capacity of 90 tonnes. 

Complementing this facility is LISCO’s steel slab plant which has an equal number of 90-ton arc furnaces providing a designed annual output of 650,000 tonnes of liquid steel that converts to 611,000 tonnes per year of slabs.

Competitive Position

Operating in the eastern part of the country is extremely difficult due to security concerns, but a new threat has arisen since 2011 in the form of competition from Abroad. Elfighi said: “The Libyan market is now open to imports from China, Ukraine, and Turkey; from everywhere.” 

Building up LISCO into a recognisable brand has proven to be a timely solution to this new problem, Elfighi said: “We are concentrating on the value and quality of our products, as well as improving costs and the delivery times. LISCO is well known for being number one for quality in Libya.” Achieving recognition has also been approached laterally, through obtaining various assurances for good governance which include ISO 14001, 9000 and 18000 accreditations. 

Paying attention to its brand, LISCO is now exporting all its products worldwide, especially to Southern Europe, China, Turkey, and to many Arabic nations. 

Since 1998 LISCO has also been working towards a more diverse product base and has achieved this goal quite substantially. Forming a single plant, its galvanised coils section produces 80,000 tonnes annually, while its painted coils line stands at 40,000 tonnes. 

The company has an additional four mills which enable it to value-add to its steel products. Its bar and rod mill consist of two lines each producing 400,000 tonnes annually. It also produces light and medium sections of varying sizes and dimensions through a dedicated mill with an annual capacity of 120,000 tonnes. Furthermore, its hot rolled coil production stands at 580,000 tonnes in its respective plant, while cold coil plant production has an annual capacity of 140,000 tonnes.