KSA construction pushes aluminium products demand

Saudi Arabia's construction sector is expected to increase from US＄27 billion in 2010 to US＄44 billion in 2015, witnessing a CAGR of 10%, pushing demand for aluminium products to increase at a CAGR of 9% from US＄920 million in 2010 to US＄1,442 million in 2015, according to a recent report by Ventures Middle East.

Aluminium products demand in volume is expected to increase at a CAGR of 10 %, from 5.4 million m2 (and 249,000 linear metres for kitchens) in 2010 to 8.4 million m2 (and 377,000 linear metres) in 2015. Products with the greatest aluminium demand by value are: windows, 33% curtain walls, 17%; and cladding, 17%. Aluminium demand by volume is highest for windows, 35%; cladding, 24%; and curtain walls, 15%.

The Kingdom is planning to become one of the major aluminium upstream producers in the Middle East, after announcing three aluminium smelting projects, at a total value of US＄19.5 billion. The total capacity of the planned projects is estimated to increase from 740,000MT in 2013 to 2.4 million MT in 2016. As for the downstream aluminium industry, KSA is now base for the largest number of aluminium processing factories in the region, which are in excess of 100. The five largest extrusion companies have a combined production capacity of around 144,000 MT per annum.