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Nexans, the French cable maker, announced that its new cable plant in Qatar starts commercial production. Nexans's joint venture (JV), the Qatar International Cable Company (QICC) is located in Mesaieed Industrial City, which is 40 km from Doha. The new facility employs more than 100 staff, and it is expected that it will generate annual revenues of more than US$100 million by 2011. Nexans said that the plant will engage in the production of LV, MV and low-end HV power cables for energy infrastructure and building projects. It will also produce special cables for the oil and gas industry. Potential target markets include Qatar, the GCC and Yemen. The power cable plant occupies 19,000 sq.m. on an overall plot of 70,000 sq.m., close to a harbour that is reportedly developing as the largest in the Middle East. QICC was established in 2008, as a JV between Nexans (30%), Special Projects Company and Al Neama Industrial Co.

Nexans the leading cablemaker has won a contract from Almabani to supply special airfield lighting cables for King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The contract includes the supply of 1,500 km of 5kV easy-to-install and watertight primary cables to connect the power network to the lighting transformers located on runways that power the airfield lights. Deliveries of the cable manufactured at Nexans' Lyon, France plant, began in 2008 and continue in 2009.

Luvata, a major copper semis fabricator, announced that it expects a 10% rise in sales in 2011 on the back of strong Asian demand. The company expects sales of around 335,500t of copper semis this year, in comparison to 305,000t in 2010. In 2010, Luvata achieved sales growth of 19.6% y-o-y. The company believes that copper demand is recovering well, with robust growth in China and South East Asia, where the residential construction, manufacturing and electrical engineering sectors are performing strongly.

Leader Universal Holdings Bhd expects its wire and cable business to benefit from increased demand as a result of stronger activity in the domestic and overseas infrastructure industry. Demand is expected to stem mainly from Asia and Australia, and also from reconstruction projects in New Zealand and Japan. Currently, orders amount to RM800M, with one-third coming from overseas markets. The company also realised strong demand from the Middle East. In the financial year ended 31st December 2010, the company recorded a turnover of RM2.49B, an increase of 27.6% compared to RM1.95B in 2009.

"The lack of a sturdy electrification grid in several countries such asIndonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, and theSarawak region of Malaysia have prompted power utility companies to budget for grid installations and expansions. The electrification expansion programs of utilities in most of these countries are giving a huge boost to the transformers market in the region. "

Africa is the world's fastest urbanising continent. In 1950, sub-Saharan Africa had no cities with populations of more than 1m. Today, it has around 50. By 2030, over half of the continent's population will live in cities, up from around a third now. The fastest growing metropolises, such as Nairobi, Kenya's capital, are expanding at rates of more than 4% per year. That is almost twice as fast as Houston, America's fastest-growing metropolis.

Indeed - that's the one with the Neom reference.