UAE's aluminium export to USA on upward trend, the country hopeful on tariff exemption

Aluminium remains one of major exports of the United Arab Emirates. In the face of Trump’s 10% global tariff on aluminium, UAE is reeling under fear as the tariff is expected affect a solid portion of its aluminium export. The Emirates’ main aluminium producer is Emirates Global Aluminium (UAE), created by the merger between Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) and Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) in 2013. EGA turned out a record 2.5 million metric tons of primary aluminium in 2017.

The U.A.E. is the United States’ third-most-prolific source of aluminium, after Canada and the Russian Federation. EGA is one of the largest producers of value added products or ‘premium aluminium’. About 80 per cent of EGA’s production is value-added products and it exports 90% of its high purity aluminium and aluminium alloys globally.   

We can look at the UAE’s aluminium export data (alloyed and non-alloyed) from last three years to understand the general trend as well as its export to the USA. As updated by U.S. Census Bureau, USA imported about 633,000 tonnes of total aluminium from UAE in 2017 and imported about 37,000 tonnes in December 2017.  It remains the third global supplier of aluminium to USA after Canada and Russia. Interestingly, China comes in the fourth position.

Our own third party data shows UAE exported a total of 2.42 million tonnes of aluminium in 2016 and the volume increased slightly to about 2.43 million tonnes in 2017.  The export to the USA is on the upward trend as it shows a total aluminium export of 547,210 tonnes in 2016, which increased to 659,276 tonnes in 2017.

In 2018, UAE’s total aluminium export is estimated to be about 2.52 million tonnes and the export to the USA is estimated to be about 793,484 tonnes in 2018, unless it is affected by the new tariffs.

The United Arab Emirates has sought an exemption from United States President Donald Trump’s blanket 10-percent tariffs on aluminium imports that is set to kick in on Friday. The assistant undersecretary for foreign trade affairs for U.A.E.’s Ministry of Economy Juma Mohamed Al Kait said to Reuters that officials are in discussions on the matter. The U.A.E. hopes to become just the fourth country granted an exception from the Section 232 tariffs, behind Australia, Canada and Mexico.

“We want to make clear that our exports are in fair competition with the market and are in line with international trade agreements on free trade,” he said.