UAE’s Emal sales to US to more than double in 2012

UAE’s Emal sales to US to more than double in 2012

Emirates Aluminium (Emal), a joint venture between Abu Dhabi's Mubadala and Dubai Aluminium (Dubal), is looking to double its exports to the United States by the end of 2012 as demand from the automotive industry rises, it said on Wednesday.

March 21, 2012 2:06 by kippreport

“The orders on our metals have increased because one of our prime products is for automotives,” Saeed Fadhel Al Mazrooei, president and chief executive of Emal, said on the sidelines of an investment forum in Abu Dhabi.

“We realised there is an increase in the orders on trucking since there is growth of around seven to eight percent, so we are focusing on that region.”

Emal, which sold 100,000 tonnes to the United States in 2011, expects its business to increase to 250,000 tonnes by the end of 2012.

Mazrooei also said Emal’s order books showed healthy demand of 900,000 tonnes, providing an incentive for the firm’s development plans.

Emal is investing $3.8 billion on the second phase of a development process that will see it up production to 800,000 tonnes by the end of 2012 and 1.4 million tonnes by 2014.

“Phase two development is on track,” Mazrooei said.

“We are increasing our production and looking at markets in Asia, Europe and the U.S. and wherever the flexibility of the market shows good premiums,” he said.

Mazrooei said he could not comment on financing plans for phase two, but said there was ample liquidity and a lot of options to choose from.

“I don’t think there will be any issues as there is a lot of liquidity so it’s about picking (the) best options and we have time to do so,” he said. (Reporting By Maha El Dahan; Editing by Amena Bakr and Mark Potter)