Emirates Global Aluminium forecasts fall in exports as local demand grows

Five new Kizad plants to meet rise in local demand

State-owned Emirates Global Aluminium said its exports would fall to 77 per cent of its production by 2017 as a result of a rise in local demand.

“There will be five new plants in Abu Dhabi,” the chief executive Abdulla Kalban told the CRU Aluminium conference in Dubai. He said the new plants would be located in the capital’s Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad).

Emirates Global Aluminium, which now exports about 88 per cent of its production, was formed by the merger last year of Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Aluminium (Emal) and Dubai Aluminium (Dubal). It produces about 2.4 million tonnes of aluminium products per year. Mr Kalban said last September that the company would boost output by only about 200,000 tonnes over the next six years.

The firm, which also owns bauxite producer Guinea Alumina in Guinea, said yesterday that its project in that country was on track for first production of bauxite by 2017, while the alumina refinery there would come onstream in 2022.

Aluminium production in the Arabian Gulf has been rising rapidly, partly because of the region’s low energy costs and extensive port facilities, as well as its booming construction industry.