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CW asks two materials suppliers how they feel about the new year
How were you affected by the economic downturn in 2009?
Mohamed Al Dhaheri, General Manager of Reem Emirates Aluminium, says The main affect was that we had to retender for many projects because previous values have decreased. We had to retender at a lower cost. The other affect was that many of the projects we had tendered for, or considered in our budget, were put on hold.
Christopher Hatzigeorgiou, Managing Director, Alumil Gulf, says The downturn affected most of our customers and as a natural consequence, affected us also. But thanks to our widespread geographical coverage we were able to minimise the impact of the downturn for our business operation in the Middle East.
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Has the market changed since the downturn?
Mohamed Al Dhaheri Yes. There was an influx of competitors to Abu Dhabi from China given Abu Dhabi’s financial strength and China’s low costs. Prices have also dropped and we’ve had to introduce value engineering. Companies are receiving late payments as clients have added new clauses protecting them from paying up front.
Christopher Hatzigeorgiou The market has become very competitive. Value engineering and discounts are prime. But we have always provided value engineered solutions by offering alternatives within our product range. We have over 50 different aluminium systems to propose from. We are also very aggressive with our pricing.
Has your business strategy changed?
Mohamed Al Dhaheri In order to stay on top in a competitive market, we implemented certain changes to our business strategy. We now accept tenders of small scale projects and of various backgrounds, including Stick Systems as opposed to only Unitized Systems. We are also now more focused on working on projects within Abu Dhabi.
Christopher Hatzigeorgiou We are diversifying with new product development, which will allow us to enter new product segments. We have finished testing our new high performance unitized curtainwall range in Germany and the US, and are targeting several high rise projects. We are focusing on markets outside the UAE like KSA, Iran and India.
Do you think building material prices will increase in 2010?
Mohamed Al Dhaheri Currently, we do not foresee a change in the market where the prices of building materials are concerned. However, this is an extremely unpredictable market and an increase or even a decrease in the prices is certainly possible.
Christopher Hatzigeorgiou Talking for aluminium specifically, prices have increased considerably recently. This trend will probably continue for the months to follow.
What are the major projects you are working on at the moment?
Mohamed Al Dhaheri Abu Dhabi’s Al Reem Island including Reem Island, Etihad, Silver Wave and Corporate Towers, Gateway District and Marina Club. There is also Masdar and Danet Abu Dhabi. In Qatar we have Barwa Commercial Avenue and in Dubai the Jumeirah Lake Towers.
Christopher Hatzigeorgiou Currently, we are involved in projects in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, RAK, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Libya and India.
What are your hopes for 2010?
Mohamed Al Dhaheri We hope to be the top curtain-wall supplier in the Middle East. Like any company that is keen to grow, we need to continuously expand our existing clientele and win more projects. We are also focused on penetrating foreign markets with a stronger team.
Christopher Hatzigeorgiou 2010 will be a difficult year. Upcoming projects are hard to secure and everyone is hungry for new projects. We are ready to play hard and match our excellent product range with added valued services at very competitive rates.
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