Emirates Business 24/7 reported that a new smelter constructed in Abu Dhabi 2 years ago boosted the UAE’s aluminum output to 1.8 million tonnes in 2011 to allow it to pump more than 4% of the world’s total production of the metal.
Official figures showed that Dubal smelter in Dubai reached a capacity of around 1.02 million tonnes this year while the Abu Dhabi plant, Emal is producing nearly 750,000 tonnes per year. Emal’s output is expected to double to 1.3 million tonnes when new expansions are completed in 2014.
The government owned Dubal said that the UAE’s aluminum production has reached 1.8 million tonnes per year, accounting for about 4.1% of the world’s total aluminum output and 51% of the production in the Gulf Cooperation Council. Nearly 90% of the UAE’s aluminum production is exported to more than 50 countries, mainly Asian markets.
Dubal which jointly owns Emal with the Abu Dhabi based Mubadala Development Company, is one of the first aluminum producers in the Middle East. Dubai’s government built that smelter more than two decades ago as part of a strategy designed to ease reliance on volatile oil exports.
According to the Doha based Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting, the UAE and other GCC nations are expected to pump nearly USD 25 billion into new aluminum projects and expansion of their existing smelters in the next 12 years.
Its figures showed that the GCC countries, which control nearly 45% of the world’s oil and 25% of the global gas wealth has invested nearly USD 30 billion in aluminum smelters almost a sixth of their total non oil industrial investments of about USD 180 billion.
The new investments include around USD 5.8 billion in Qatar’s smelter, which was inaugurated last year with a production capacity of 585,000 tonnes per year. About USD 8 billion will also be pumped by Emal while more expansions are on the cards in Dubai and Bahrain, where the region’s first smelters were set up. Saudi Arabia, the world’s dominant oil exporter is also planning to set up a USD 3.8 billion smelter while Oman has completed its first aluminum plant in Sohar.
In a study on aluminum projects in the GCC, GOIC said regional states need to push ahead with such projects to face a rapid rise in domestic demand because of massive infrastructure projects. External demand for their products is also expected to surge as global consumption will likely pick up in the near future following a slowdown due to the 2008 global fiscal crisis. It said global aluminum demand is forecast to soar to nearly 70 million tonnes by 2020 from around 37 million tonnes currently.
GOIC said that the expansions and new projects in the GCC countries will enable them to offset any decline in other parts of the world as some smelters in Europe, south Asia and North America could be shut because of high costs. Such developments will depress global supply and this will boost demand for GCC aluminum as the region does not have any problems with costs given its enormous energy resources which make these projects more feasible.
(Sourced from Emirates Business 24/7)
