Albania, the mineral resource rich country in South-eastern Europe's Balkan Peninsula has opened up to the global investors only very recently. The free trade zone of Albania's city of Koplik was declared open for manufacturing, industrial and agro-processing activities as well as trading and storing goods, in July 2016. To remain operational till 2025 for a symbolical price of 1 euro, the region now throws open opportunities for a number of industries to grow and expand. Downstream aluminium manufacturing remains one of the key industries in Albania. Alumil Albania, Everest, Vibtis Ltd, Endress hauser are some of the noted aluminium product manufacturers and automation companies of the country.
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Alumil Albania, the biggest manufacturer of aluminium profiles in Albania, exports aluminium bar rods and profiles to Kosovo and Montenegro. Other countries where Albanian manufacturers export their products include Croatia, Greece, Italy, Malta, Serbia, Slovenia and TFYR of Macedonia. Albania's aluminium bar rods profiles exports have been declining over the last three years, which can be partly attributed to the fall in demand for the products in the international market and also to the transition hiccups the country has been experiencing since end of 2015. In 2015, the country exported 2373.24 tonnes of aluminium bar rods and profiles. The volume came down by 26.05 per cent to stand at 1754.97 tonnes in 2016. 
The value of exports has also logged a year-on-year decline in the above aluminium product category since 2014. The total value of aluminium bar rods and profiles which stood at US$8.53 million in 2015, dropped 30.24 per cent to total at US$5.95 million in 2016.
In 2017, till October, Albania is estimated to ship around 1731.004 tonnes (+20.04 per cent) of aluminium bar rods and profiles worth US$111.01 million, up 127.18 per cent from the corresponding period previous year. The surge in volume and value indicates at the fact that the companies operating in the aluminium downstream sector have well realigned themselves with the country's changed free-trade setup. Further, they have boost up their sales to rake in added revenues from the global market. Alumil Albania, for example, has made significant investments to bring its entire production process up to EU standards and its aluminium profiles are certified by a German organisation.
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Albania is also an important importer of aluminium scrap. The country imported 6097.54 tonnes of aluminium scrap worth US$66.4 million in 2016, and in 2017, till October, it is estimated to import around 5206.11 tonnes of scrap aluminium valued at US$73.3 million. The aluminium scrap imported is remelted to produce secondary aluminium which goes on to cater to the domestic downstream aluminium industry demand.
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