Elie El Asmar (right), Country Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC Middle East Limited, with Ahmed Fathy Al Sewedy, Vice-President, Doha Cables, speaking to The Peninsula. Pic: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula
DOHA: Doha Cables, Qatar’s first cable manufacturer, is looking to expand its commercial footprints beyond the borders, focusing mainly on Africa, Asia and European markets. The Company, which is involved in a series of big-ticket projects in Qatar, has already opened its commercial office in Philippines ahead of its global expansion plans, Doha Cables and its financial partner HSBC told The Peninsula.
Doha Cables, which is involved in a number of long-term mega projects in Qatar, is now hedging their exposure to copper through HSBC UK to ensure that the company is providing quality service to its clients, Ahmed Fathy Al Sewedy, Vice-President, Doha Cables said in the presence of Elie El Asmar, Country Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC Middle East Limited.
Doha Cables Vice President said the company foresees huge opportunities for its high-quality products, which has won a slew of international quality certificates, in Europe and several emerging economies, where the cable markets are projected to grow double digits in medium-term to long-term.
“We are getting ready to export our products to international markets with the support of the government and our financial partner HSBC,” he said.
“We are working on aggressive market strategies, in addition to our plans to go to the international markets. In terms of our export strategy, Africa is very important for us as Qatar has very good relations with lot of countries in this continent. We also see huge opportunities in Asia and Europe,” Al Sewedy added.
Doha Cables is an authorised supplier to the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) and has been a customer of HSBC since 2014. In January 2018, Doha Cables was awarded a QR1.24bn “call off” contract from Kahramaa for the supply of low and medium voltage power cables, used for the numerous infrastructure projects in Qatar.
HSBC recently provided Doha Cables a sizeable balance sheet of $134m in working capital financing to support a large project that spans over two years.
“In 2018, Doha Cables started using HSBC globally to support their working capital requirements…This transaction is a gateway for further opportunities across other entities locally and abroad which are Europe, Asia, Africa and India”, El Asmar said.
Since establishment in 2010, Doha Cables has been awarded two call off contracts by Kahramaa in 2011 and 2014 supplying its requirement of 11kV and Low Voltage Cables.
On the company’s hedging exposure Al Sewedy added: “Probably, we are one of the first companies in the country to go for such a business (copper hedging). Currently, our production capacity is around 52,000 tonnes of copper cables per annum. You have to adopt mechanisms to make sure you are providing the best on time to your clients. HSBC has offered support for us from HSBC UK. The bank’s global reach offers access to you the best product from the best market. This gives you the competitive advantage..”
Doha Cables plays a large role in infrastructure projects across the country. Doha Cables has supplied a range of public sector projects including Ashghal projects (Hamad Medical City, Dukhan Highway, Doha Express Way and various school and mosque projects) and Qatar Rail (Doha Metro Main Station, Gold Line and Red Line, Green Line & Doha Metro Phase 1 System, Rolling Stock and Track works).
As for the private sector, Doha Cables is the first choice for many contractors and real estate developers having supplied a number of projects which include Lusail Real Estate Development project, the Pearl Qatar, Barwa City, Ras Laffan Global City and Mall of Qatar.
In fact, Doha Cables is the offshoot of Qatar’s ambitious Qatar National Vision 2030, of which a key pillar is supporting local companies.
“The government has been very particular about supporting the local products in many ways. The government has been awarding majority of the tenders to the local producers after making sure the local products are meeting top quality standards.The government is also supporting the exports of local products under QDB’s Tasdeer programme, which is very active.”
Al Sewedy said the main source of revenue of Doha Cables is coming from Government infrastructure.
“Our products go to everything related to constructions…. goes into building new cities, the source of revenue represents a combination of government-funded projects and private sector projects”.
The blockade has definitely benefitted all the local products in Qatar. In fact, the blockade has helped the market realize the importance of creating a strong market with high quality local products.
Many products that are going to the rail project are from the local market. 90 percent of power cables used in the rail projects is from the local factories, he said.
