Middle East aluminium attacks have a limited impact on China's prebaked anode exports
On March 28, Emirates Global Aluminium's (EGA) Al Taweelah plant in Abu Dhabi and Alba's production facilities in Bahrain were hit by precision drone strikes, damaging some equipment. EGA and Alba have annual capacities of 1.6 million tonnes and 1.623 million tonnes, respectively. The Middle East accounted for about 9 per cent of global aluminium capacity, totalling 6.9 million tonnes/year. Before the attacks, Middle East electrolytic aluminium output had been cut by nearly 10 per cent. With additional damage from the strikes, an estimated 30 per cent of the region's electrolytic aluminium capacity could be affected.
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Producing one tonne of electrolytic aluminium required about 0.5 tonnes of prebaked anode. The Middle East relied heavily on imported prebaked anode, bringing annual imports in roughly 1.3 million tonnes due to insufficient local capacity, among which Chinese resources accounted for about 30 per cent.
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