Aluminuin Bahrain plans boosting exports to Egypt to $31mn end-2016

Bahran-based aluminium producer Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) targets boosting its exports to Egypt to 17,000 tonnes with the value of US$31 million by the end of 2016.

Speaking to Amwal Al Ghad Wednesday, Chief Financial Officer Ali Al Baqali stated that the volume of firm’s exports to the Egyptian market reached around 16,800 tonnes, i.e. $33.6 million.

He stated that the decline in exports value was due to the drop in aluminium prices at the beginning  of 2016, i.e. $1,800 per ton versus $2,000 per ton in 2014.

Al Baqali added that Egypt seizes around 15 percent of company’s sales in the Middle East following the Saudi one that get 62 percent of the total sales.

The officer clarified that Alba is to sign a cooperation protocol with one of the Egyptian firms, whose capacity is estimated at 300,000 tonnes annually, to purchase raw material jointly.

Aluminium Bahrain is one of the largest and most modern aluminium smelters in the world. It produces more than 960,000 metric tonnes per annum of the highest grade aluminium, with products including standard and T-ingots, extrusion billets, rolling slab, propertzi ingots, and molten aluminium.