Aluminium heavyweights step up to the challenge

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It was reported earlier this year that demand for aluminium in the GCC is set to hit five million tonnes before the end of the decade. And with multiple projects in the pipeline - an estimated US $14 billion (AED51 billion) to date and $45 billion currently under construction in Dubai alone - the increase in aluminium supply is paramount to feed the construction boom.

With this in mind, regional production could bubble over the seven million tonne mark by 2012, accounting for almost 20% of the world's aluminium output. Construction Week casts an eye over some of the region's players that are striving to meet demand caused by frantic growth in the industry.

Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal)

Established in 1979, Dubal, which has become the world's seventh largest producer of premium quality aluminium, expects to grow the volume of its sales to the Middle East and North Africa regions by 300,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) by 2009, which equates to a 25% increase on the 240,000 tonnes supplied to the region in 2006.

At the same time, these figures mean that the proportion of Dubal's production volumes sold to the Middle East and North Africa region will increase from 28% to 33% of the company's total production.

Dubal has one eye on burgeoning efficiency demands after it signed an agreement with UAE-based zero carbon developer, MASDAR, this summer, to deliver and register a project under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with aluminium smelting.

In terms of the agreement, MASDAR will be responsible for developing the CDM project, which will address a new technology to be implemented by Dubal to reduce perfluorocarbons (PFCs) during the electrolyte reduction of aluminium.

Emirates Extrusions

A subsidiary of M'sharie, the private equity arm of Dubai Investments, Emirates Extrusions announced this month that it will open a new facility at Dubai Investments Park as part of an expansion plan that is predicted to cut the widening gap between supply and demand of extruded aluminium profiles in regional markets.

The new extrusion plant will house four high-capacity production lines and will feature the latest technologies in aluminium extrusion. Also up for construction is a new powder coating plant, which is set to improve Emirates Extrusions' production capacity by more than two tonnes per hour. The plant will be constructed on a 42,000m² plot with about 29,470m² allocated for offices and the warehouse, which will accommodate the production lines.

By upgrading and increasing its production facility, Emirates Extrusion is looking to satisfy not only the booming construction market of the UAE, but also other high-development areas such as Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. The company is also increasing its market presence in East African countries such as Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethopia, which are experiencing an increase in demand for extruded aluminium profiles following government-led investments and development initiatives.

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba)

When Alba opened Line Five in 2005, the company became the world's largest aluminium smelter. Built as part of a $1.7 billion expansion project, which included the construction of a new power station, carbon casthouse and other facilities, it is the longest reduction line in the world and increased Alba's annual production capacity to more than 830,000TPA.

Alba was incorporated by Amiri Charter in 1968 and officially commissioned on 11 May 1971 as a 120,000-tonnes-per-annum smelter. This output was expanded in 1981, 1990, 1992 and 1997 - making the smelter one of the largest single-site producers of aluminium in the world. The three shareholders are the Government of Bahrain (77%), the Saudi Public Investment Fund (20%) and Breton Investments (3%).

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