Promising future for Middle East's aluminium industry

The future of the Middle East aluminium industry remains bright, according to EGA Managing Director and CEO Abdulla Kalban. In the primary aluminum sector, further capacity expansions have been announced by four of the GCC smelters that will collectively add another 2.25 million tonnes to the region's annual production capacity. 

"The downstream aluminium industry is also expanding, thanks to strong progress in local infrastructure development, increasing demand in international markets and the pro-active development of aluminum clusters, The growth of both sectors heralds more job creation opportunities, which will contribute further to the social and economic development of the region," he added.

The CEO sketched the growth of the sector since the onset of the global economic crisis in 2008, highlighting its successes against the odds. Back then, the GCC had two smelters (DUBAL and Aluminium Bahrain), which produced 1.92 million tpa. Today there are six smelters in the GCC, with an annual production capacity of 5 million tpa, all operating at full capacity. Moreover, a 2012 study found that the GCC smelters had the lowest conversion cost, business cost and economic cost per tonne of aluminium; as well as the lowest power costs per tonne of aluminium.
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