EGA's Walid Al Attar named World's Top Aluminium Executive at annual industry meet in Chicago

United Arab Emirates: Walid Al Attar, Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has been named ‘World’s Top Aluminium Executive 2020-2021’ at an annual global industry summit in Chicago.

The award, presented at the Harbor Aluminum Summit each year, recognises outstanding long-term contributions to the global aluminium industry.

Mr. Al Attar was the key architect of EGA’s drive to maximise the value of its production by focusing on ‘premium aluminium’, made to customer specifications. EGA is the world’s largest ‘premium aluminium’ producer, with over 440 customers in more than 50 countries.

Mr. Al Attar joined Dubai Aluminium in 1984 as a trainee, and began work as a transport administrator in the shipping department. He joined Dubai Aluminium’s Marketing & Sales team in 1994, playing a leading role in the initial transition from selling commodity metal to traders to building direct relationships with customers making products using aluminium. He was made General Manager of Marketing & Sales in 2005.

When Dubai Aluminium merged with Emirates Aluminium in 2014 to form EGA, Mr. Al Attar was appointed Chief Marketing Officer. In 2020, Mr. Al Attar was promoted to the new position of Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for both marketing & sales and supply chain. He also serves as President of EGA America Inc., the distributor of the company’s metal in North America.

Mr. Al Attar said: “This is an award for the whole of EGA, and recognises the contributions of everyone in driving our growth to become the biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer in the world. Although we have achieved a great deal over the decades to build EGA into a national industrial champion and leader in its sector, we have bold aspirations for the future – including to further deepen our relationships with our customers, and to grow our economic contribution in the UAE.”

Jorge Vasquez, Founder and Managing Director of Harbor Aluminum, said: “Walid Al Attar is well-respected in the global aluminium industry, both for his pivotal role in the growth of EGA, and for helping make the company the industry's standard for successful marketing & sales and customer relationships. I was honoured to present this award to Walid, on behalf of his industry peers.”

The Harbor Aluminum Summit is the world’s largest annual market gathering of the aluminium industry, currently in its 13th edition. It is typically attended by over 360 global companies. Video link: https://we.tl/t-EOw2JOKzbw

-Ends-

Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk sbuerk@ega.ae

About EGA

Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.

Today EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer’ and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry.

EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is 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 2020, EGA sold 2.52 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 400 customers in over 50 countries. In recent years over 80 per cent of EGA’s production has been value added products, one of the highest proportions of any aluminium company in the world. In 2020, value added products made up 72 per cent of total sales despite EGA’s flexing of its product mix in response to fluctuating market demand caused by COVID-19’s impact on world manufacturing.

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

Around 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.

In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun.

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 supplies 40 per cent of EGA’s needs.

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

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

© Press Release 2021