OARC plans to double output by 2017

Oman Aluminium Rolling Co (OARC) plans to double output by 2017 with shipments to the US, India and Italy.

Production will jump to 140,000 metric tonnes of aluminium parts from about 70,000 tonnes last year, Graham Bruce, chief commercial officer, said in an interview at the Aluminium Middle East conference in Dubai.

The US$385mn OARC plant at the Sohar Industrial Estate was inaugurated in December 2013.

OARC is benefiting from a perception that aluminium products made in the Middle East are ten per cent cheaper than the rest of the world because of lower electricity and natural gas costs, Bruce said.

“We’re new,” he said. “There’s a lot of interest from Korea and India.”

Aluminium prices will probably trade between US$1,700 to US$1,800 a tonne for the rest of the year, even with demand growing in the Middle East, he said. The metal for delivery in three months fell 0.3 per cent to US$1,760.50 a tonne on Tuesday on the London Metal Exchange. OARC uses the LME to hedge, according to Bruce, who joined the company five weeks ago.

Saudi Arabia plans to build 20 football stadiums that will need aluminium, and rail networks in the Middle East will add to demand, he said.

Owned by Takamul Investment Co, a 90 per cent subsidiary of Oman Oil Co (OOC, OARC supplies alloys of processed aluminium to the local markets and exports to the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America.

According to the OARC website, the plant currently has over 150 direct employees with other supporting companies participating in its growth.