DUBAL and EMAL to tap potential European market

Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium target growth in market share within the European market. Since its first forays into the region in 1996, DUBAL has developed long-term partnership relationships with customers that have driven consistent growth in the company's sales volumes into Europe, despite the 6% duty payable on alloyed aluminium. In 2012, almost 212,000 tonnes of DUBAL metal reached Europe's shores. A further 224,000 tonnes of metal produced by EMAL was also sold in Europe during 2012 (i.e. 436,000 tonnes in total from DUBAL and EMAL).

Going forward, the DUBAL-EMAL Marketing and Sales team anticipates selling about 490,000 tonnes of primary aluminium into Europe during 2013. The EMAL product mix — comprising remelt aluminium and standard commodity ingot and sow, as well as sheet ingot and billets — complements DUBAL's product portfolio of high purity sow and ingot, extrusion billet, foundry alloy, busbars and anode bars.

In the recently concluded 18th World Aluminium Conference, Walid Al Attar (Executive Vice President Marketing & Sales: DUBAL and EMAL) highlighted the strategic importance of the European market for both DUBAL and EMAL by saying that the Middle East is ideally located, both geographically and economically, to serve Europe. "We have already demonstrated DUBAL and EMAL's commitment to the region by building and maintaining a comprehensive infrastructure of discharge port facilities and warehouses that, together, enable timely deliveries to aluminium end-users across Europe," he says. "Also, DUBAL has opened offices in Zurich, Switzerland, and Milan, Italy and this infrastructure now benefits both companies."

According to analysts, the European Union as a whole currently needs to import approximately 70 per cent of its primary aluminium requirements, and this figure is increasing. "This translates into excellent opportunities to grow the individual and combined market share of DUBAL and EMAL in the region; such that we are confident of continued demand for our products," Al Attar comments. "By promoting the two companies' facilities and our joint product portfolio at CRU 2013, we effectively demonstrated how the combined production volumes of DUBAL and EMAL can help meet a significant portion the primary aluminium production deficit in Europe."