Samawah - Industries

Industries

The unemployment rate is high, though agriculture and mining are active. The city, in spite of the lack of high-value natural resources such as oil and gas and a lack of central government investment, has managed to maintain lively small-scale industrial, agricultural and alternative sectors.

Samawah had the largest cement factories in the Middle East during the 1970s, with a total production capacity of 2.85 million tonnes a year. These have since fallen into disrepair, exacerbating the unemployment situation, although the southern cement factory, the oldest, reopened in 2005. As of 2007, the four existing plants are producing a total of just 0.8 million tonnes a year due to the shortage of electricity. Five new cement factories with a capacity of 9 million tonnes a year are under construction on the outskirts of Samawah and will provide employment for several thousand skilled and unskilled workers as well as filling 45% of Iraq's total cement needs.

A small oil refinery was reopened in Samawah in 2005 after being idle for 15 years. The existing 10,000 bbl/d facility's capacity was doubled to 20,000 bbl/d (3,200 m3/d) in 2006 and was to have increased to 30,000 bbl/d (4,800 m3/d) by 2007. The facility is linked by pipeline to the new Kifl oil field in Samawah province that has an initial capacity of 40,000 bbl/d (6,400 m3/d). The major advantage of the refinery is that it is designed for processing heavy crude oil, allowing the light crude to be exported.

The historical route between Mesopotamia and Saudi Arabia ran through Samawah, and it has been a main trading thoroughfare for Iraqi produce to Saudi Arabia.

Samawah is home to a rail yard for overhauling and maintaining the rolling stock and locomotives along the Baghdad-Basra rail routes. Samawah railway station is conveniently located halfway between Baghdad and Basra. Overhaul facilities for the railways are an important source of employment opportunities in this Mesopotamian city. There was an overhaul facility for the Iraqi Armoured corps based in Samawah belonging to the military Industrial Commission.

In terms of agriculture, the staple Mesopotamian produce is grown in Samawah, such as dates, wheat, barley, citrus fruits, and tomatoes. In addition, Samawah is home to the small and rare trade in wild truffles, which grow in the desert regions of Muthanna province.

The Bahr al Milh, or Salt Sea, located 20 km (12 mi) to the southwest of Samawah, is the main source of industrial salts in Iraq, and large salt mining and processing facilities are located there to exploit this resource. A thriving industry in traditional sun-baked brick manufacture exists on the outskirts of Samawah using primarily female labourers for forming and drying bricks. Large temporary kilns with chimney stacks as high as 30 m (98 ft) are constructed by villagers in the surrounding region to make baked bricks with the same methods used during the Sumerian and Akkadian periods.

Samawah has its own media industry, with the recently reopened Muthanna TV broadcasting terrestrial transmission to Samawah and the province. It focuses primarily on local news and issues. The station gained notoriety as the "Robin Hood of Television" when it broadcast the 2006 World Cup games without licence using a single subscription to a pay-per-view satellite channel. The central government were unable to enforce a ruling against the TV station to stop the transmissions.

There is a small cottage industry of carpet makers in the city, primarily employing women. The advantages for the local carpet makers are the availability of cheap raw materials, wool from the desert Bedu who use Samawah as their main trading post, and the availability of cheap labour in this poor city.