UAE urges change in geography of world aluminium industry

A panelist at the event at the 2nd Annual Aluminium Summit in New York, Khaled Salmeen, Executive Vice President of the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad), is inviting companies involved in producing aluminium goods and components to consider setting up business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a move that could signal a change in the geography of world metal production as the economies of the Middle East grow and diversify away from oil.

In addition to world-class infrastructure, Salmeen points to the benefits of highly competitive land lease rates, the cost and environmental savings associated with local utility supplies and a currency (the UAE Dhiram) fixed to the US dollar.

In Abu Dhabi, Kizad is building a massive industrial development that it claims is the first in the world to be based on vertically integrated "clusters" serving industries such as aluminium, steel, plastics, food and beverages, logistics, glass and paper. It will be divided into geographical areas containing anchor tenants producing basic materials to supply mid-stream and downstream manufacturers and also attract producers of support goods and services. The proximity of the businesses within Kizad's aluminium cluster allows the establishment of a "hot metal road", a specially constructed roadway enabling the transport and delivery of aluminium in molten form, saving downstream manufacturers the considerable financial and environmental cost of re-melting ingots.