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trucks. The company focuses on: the collection

and processing of non-ferrous and ferrous

scrap from industrial, commercial and retail

sources; the collection of end-of-life vehicles

for dismantling and shredding in Saudi Arabia;

and the sale of various grades of prepared scrap

to domestic and also export customers around

the globe.

Although business has expanded greatly over

the past 50-plus years, what hasn’t changed is

that Sharif Metals is still 100% family-owned,

with Salam Al Sharif its chairman and brother

Monir its chief executive officer. Another broth-

er, Ahmad Al Sharif, is responsible for the Jor-

dan-based operations while Mohammed Al

Sharif manages the Kuwait location. In addi-

tion, a handful of fourth-generation family

members is already active within the company

and is being primed to take over at some point

in the future. Salam’s son Mahmoud is one of

them along with Nasser in Kuwait, Moham-

med’s son.

Smelting community
This morning, Mahmoud had taken me on a

quick tour around Sharif Metals’ aluminium

and lead recycling facilities outside Sharjah, a

half-hour drive from the company’s headquar-

ters. The facilities are close to one another, on

the edge of the Sa’jaa industrial zone. To the

north are warehouses and small industries, with

the Sharjah skyline in the distance; to the south,

there is just empty desert.

Inside and outside the factory, aluminium scrap

– including wheels – is waiting to be smelted

and further processed. Most of the employees

are Indians; the workers live in an apartment

building next to the facilities, and there are

Indian shops and an Indian restaurant.

Important base
Sa’jaa is an important base for Sharif Metals’

future growth as the company’s head office and

scrap yard slowly but surely become swallowed

up by Sharjah’s gathering urbanisation. In just

10 to 15 years, this emirate neighbour of Dubai

has grown into a city of 1 million souls – most of

whom are commuters working in Dubai itself.

Hungry property developers are increasingly

interested in the area occupied by Sharif Metals

and other industrial users and want to replace

factories with office and apartment skyscrapers.

‘Obviously, urbanisation will sooner or later

push a recycling business such as ours out of

the city,’ acknowledges Salam. ‘So at some point

in time, we might have to pack our bags and

rebuild on the outskirts, in Sa’jaa, near our lead

and aluminium facilities, in what is now still

open desert.’

And he adds philosophically: ‘If we have to relo-

cate, we will make the best of it.’

War-zone scrap
A different kind of challenge is presented by

import restrictions on scrap originating from

countries in the Middle East and North Africa

officially designated as war zones. For example,

scrap from Syria cannot be imported into the

UAE, Libya and Sudan are also on this list.

‘Obviously, this has an impact on the business

and has forced us and others to look for alter-

native sources,’ Salam notes. ‘However, since we

have always been a company that is proactive,

we are prepared to encounter every challenge

that comes along.’

Increased political and social unrest across the

Arabian peninsula is a growing concern for the

scrap business. ‘War and instability are bad for

the economy; they are bad for trade,’ says Salam.

‘You don’t want that.’

No limitations, no shortages
If there were no limitations on trade, there

would be no shortage of secondary raw mate-

rials worldwide, Salam believes. ‘It is only by

enforcing restrictions that block free trade that

you create shortages of materials,’ he argues.

Clearly, Salam is no supporter of the export ban

on ferrous scrap that still exists in Saudi Arabia.

But at the same time, Sharif Metals is running

a profitable business there. ‘The two shredders

we operate in Saudi Arabia work at full speed

to provide local steel producers with the nec-

essary infeed of materials,’ he points out.

www.sharifmetals.com

Monir Al Sharif:
‘We know how to handle

beverage cans.’

Salam Al Sharif with his son Mahmoud (left) and his brother Monir.

Middle East recyclers
saved from
logistical nightmare
Subsequently suspended after huge protests from
the global recycling industry, the new foreign
trade policy announced by India at the beginning
of April would have had ‘a dramatic impact on
metal scrap exporters and traders in the Middle
East’, confirms Salam Al Sharif in his role as
president of the Bureau of Middle East Recycling.
In particular, Sharif strongly condemns the pro-
posed tightening of inspection procedures such
that there would have been a requirement for
all metal scrap imports to be inspected by
approved surveyors and for the entire process of
loading into containers to be put on video, show-
ing the inspector’s face, the exporter’s face, all
carriage details and inspection equipment.
‘For us, this would be very dramatic,’ replies
Salam when asked how such changes would
affect his own business and day-to-day opera-
tions. Sharif Metals is heavily dependent on
exports to customers in India: on a monthly
basis, the company ships out some 300 contain-
er-loads of copper-based materials, of which ‘30
to 40%’ goes to India.
‘I expect major delays in procedures for con-
tainer loadings and shipments,’ Salam says. ‘It
will cost the exporter money for sure. Moreover,
it will lead to bad performance of contracts on
the supplier side. Your customers simply won’t
accept that. And you don’t deliver the contain-
ers for export on time; this will result in major
logistics problems.’
The proposed procedures would have required
considerable additional paperwork, according to
Salam, while another ‘impossible’ requirement
would be for only a certain number of people at
certain points to be authorised to inspect mate-
rial fl ows for India. ‘The problem is that you don’t
know when these inspection offi cers are available;
there is absolutely no fl exibility,’ Salam complains.

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