Saudi industry: cables more competitive than Chinese cables

Talal K. Idriss, CEO of Bahra Cables talks about Saudi cable industry and its competitivness.

He says, “Saudi Arabia has a huge capacity to produce cables, much more than what Saudi Arabia needs. That extra supply is going into the GCC, Africa, going all around. There is a huge drive. We have one recent contract in Iraq, in Nigeria, in Ghana and of course in GCC, but we do that on a daily basis. So, around the world, the Saudi Arabia cable manufacturing industry represents about maybe 3% to 4% of the whole cable manufacturing, which is much more than what Saudi Arabia should represent.

Chinese bid against us for cables in the government tenders. They haven’t won anything since Indians bid against us. We are usually 30% cheaper than Chinese bid for cables. It is not like 2% or 3%. That’s one thing, that’s our business, that’s what we know. If we look at other items in our electrical business, because Bahra Cables is slowly becoming Bahra Electric.”