EGA signs deal with Vinacomin that extends supplies of Vietnamese alumina to the UAE until 2023

United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has signed a new three year contract with Vinacomin, a Vietnamese state-owned firm, extending the supply of Vietnamese alumina to the UAE until 2023.

Under the agreement, EGA will continue to buy up to 300,000 tonnes of alumina from Vinacomin each year. The deal extends an agreement that EGA and Vinacomin signed in late 2017 which was due to expire at the end of this year.

The agreement follows a visit by a senior commercial delegation to Vietnam in October, led by His Excellency Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy. Alumina is amongst the significant components of UAE-Vietnam trade.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “We are pleased to extend the solid partnership between EGA and Vinacomin as part of the growing trade relationship between our two countries. We are looking forward to continuing to receive Vietnamese alumina for the years ahead, as well as exploring ways we can work together more broadly such as improving port infrastructure in Vietnam and exploring other upstream opportunities.”

Dang Thanh Hai, Vinacom’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer and we are glad to extend our alumina supply relationship with such an important company in the aluminium industry. For Vinacomin, this agreement is also in line with the directives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam to contribute to further strengthening the trading relationship with the UAE, our country’s most important trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa.”  

Alumina is refined from bauxite ore and is the feedstock for aluminium smelters.

EGA’s Al Taweelah alumina refinery is expected to reach sustained production at nameplate capacity during the first half of this year, with production sufficient to meet some 40 per cent of EGA’s requirements. EGA will continue to import alumina to meet its remaining needs.

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Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae
056 3111 536

About EGA

Emirates Global Aluminium is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

It is the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry, and the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah and a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea.

EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2018, EGA produced 2.6 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 350 customers in over 60 countries. Over 80 per cent of EGA’s production is value added products, one of the highest proportions of any aluminium company in the world.

EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.

Over 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports 60,950 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 25 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA’s Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. ASI certification is the aluminium industry’s internationally recognised standard for environmental and social performance and governance.

EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.

EGA’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.

EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.

EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 5,450 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants.

EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA’s alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and will supply 40 per cent of EGA’s needs once fully ramped-up.

Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project is one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years.

For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae 

© Press Release 2020