Qatalum, the joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Hydro of Norway, will begin producing 585,000 tonnes of aluminium products per annum by December 2010, Qatalum's Chief Executive Jan-Arve Haugan told Emirates Business.

Since beginning production in December 2009, Qatalum has been invigorating its production pots at the rate of 2.2 tonnes per day and has now attained a capacity of 139 tonnes, Haugan said.

"Capacity today is not really an issue for us now. We are gradually ramping up our production," he said.

Haugan said the company has identified market potential particularly in Asia.

"Hydro is doing the marketing for us. We have established a marketing office in Singapore. We plan to export to destinations such as the Philippines, Malaysia and emerging markets like Asia and the Middle East," he said. "We will also be exporting to Japan. Our products find usage in its car industry," Haugan said.

Qatalum is sourcing alumina for its plant from Brazil and from Western Australia. "We have a marketing agreement with Hydro Aluminium and 100 per cent of our metals will be marketed by them. Hydro has a substantial market share in Europe but is now growing in Asia as well."

The firm plans to produce aluminium foundry alloys that go into the castings used in the automobile industry and extrusion ingots which find a use in construction materials like window frames, Haugan said.

Assurance of permanent gas supply from a country such as Qatar has helped the company, he said.

However, he emphasised that this does not put the company in a better position when compared to other Gulf producers like Oman's Sohar Aluminium or Dubai-based Dubal.

"When you have assurance of gas supply you do use it to produce the necessary power," he said.

"As far as profitability is concerned it depends on the productivity of the company. That's how you compete with the best." Qatalum has one of the largest production plants in the world and potlines, which production units are about 1.2km long. Its facilities include a carbon plant, a captive power plant and a storage facility.