Sales at Aluminium Bahrain which owns the world's fourth largest aluminum smelter, grew by 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2011 despite a challenging year.

Alba said that its sales were 227,042 tonnes in the fourth quarter, up from 224,054 tonnes in the same period a year earlier.

Mr Laurent Schmitt in a statement said that "We are hopeful that Alba will witness another success story in 2012 with the active support of its workforce.”

The company said that Bahrain was rocked by months of anti government protests which began in February. The government's martial law, imposed in March, was lifted on June 1.

Bahrain state run energy supplier raised prices of gas it sells to Alba starting January 1 by USD 0.75 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) to USD 2.25/mmbtu.

(Sourced from Thomson Reuters)