The Dubai Aluminium Company (DUBAL) is a state-owned manufacturer and supplier of primary alumina to the electronics and aerospace industries, foundry alloy to the automotive industry and extrusion billets for construction. The company serves more than 280 customers in 44 countries in the Far East, Europe, the Middle East and North America, as of the close of 2007.

One of the largest of its kind in the UAE in terms of land area, DUBAL covers 480 hectares (51.6 million square foot), employs 3,801 and comprises eight potlines that produce 890,000 metric tons of aluminum per year, as of 2007. The ISO-certified company also includes a power plant, a carbon plant, three cast-houses, a water desalination plant and storage facilities.

To meet increasing international demand for aluminum products, DUBAL?s strategy is to double its exports to Europe and the Mediterranean by 2012, increase its sales by 25% in the MENA region by 2009 and to establish a smelter or two per year. It has teamed up with powerhouses like Mubadala and others to carry out some of its objectives at home and abroad.

In February 2007, DUBAL and the Mubadala Development CompanyMubadala Development Company jointly established Emirates Aluminium (EMAL), a green-field smelter in Abu Dhabi?s Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone. Estimated at a total value of AED29.4 billion (USD8 billion,) the smelter will be the largest of its kind in the world upon completion, with a capacity of 1.4 million tons of aluminum products per year. It will be built in two phases, the first of which will be completed in 2010 at a cost of AED18.4 billion (USD5 billion), with a production capacity of 700,000 tons per year.

Construction on a green-field aluminum smelter in King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2009. The AED18.4 billion (USD5 billion) project is a joint venture between DUBAL, Mubadala, the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and Emaar. DUBAL and Mubadala's responsibilities will be fulfilled by EMAL International, which is owned equally by the two companies. When completed at the end of 2011, the proposed smelter will have a production capacity of 700,000 tons per year.

DUBAL will increase capacity to 920,000 tons per year by the end of 2008 and again to 2.5 million tons per year by 2015. The company also has plans to co-develop a AED11 billion (USD3 billion) refinery in Guinea, which is highly rich in bauxite reserves and will afford DUBAL long-term access to low-cost alumina.