Modern day merchants

AK Almoayed Group businessman and chairman Khalid Almoayed

AK Almoayed Group chairman Khalid Almoayed, sits down with Bahrain Editor Benjamin Millington to discuss the history and future of his family-owned company in Bahrain’s steel market.

After five generations in Bahrain’s building materials industry members of the Almoayed family should by now have steel running through their veins.

The business was started in the 1880s by a great-great grandfather of Khalid A Almoayed, the current chairman of the AK Almoayed Group (AKA), a diversified company he owns in partnership with his siblings.

As the word diversified suggests, the group has expanded its interests into a number of fields including shipping, industrial equipment, real estate and project sponsorship, but the company’s roots are firmly planted in trading building materials.

“We have inherited a liking for building materials. In the old days it was of course mainly wood and steel and then we added derivatives of wood and steel -- decorative stuff, drainage, fencing and roofing,” says Al Moayed “And every single generation that comes in brings modern products into the formula, so there’s always excitement -- never a dull moment.”

Indeed, given the rollercoaster ride of steel prices last year, the industry has been anything but dull.

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In 2008, AKA traded around 15,000 tonnes of steel and supplied around the same from their mesh and cut-and-bend facility to various big name construction projects such as Bahrain Financial Harbour, Bahrain Bay, Durrat Al Bahrain and Marina West.

But as all steel suppliers will testify, it wasn’t an easy year for anyone in the industry as prices rapidly escalated to a peak of US $1500 (BHD565) a tonne, only to dramatically plunge to around $700 a tonne towards the end of the year.

“All materials went up and down but steel is the one that left the biggest scars,” says Almoayed.

“If you see any of the building material stockists on the street, please feel sorry for them because they are going through a rough period at the moment.