Dubal achieves output target of one million metric tonnes

Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal), the largest smelter in the Middle East, said it achieved its output target of one million metric tonnes of the metal last year.

Dubal produced 1,009,772 metric tonnes of cast aluminium products in 2009, compared with 947,751 metric tonnes in the previous year, the company said in a statement.

Production was 1.01 million tonnes, making Dubal the largest single-site aluminium producer of value-added products in the world," said Abdulla Kalban, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dubal.

Confirming its status as a leading player in the global aluminium industry, the Jebel Ali primary aluminium complex owned and operated by Dubal produced 1,009,772 metric tonnes of cast aluminium products in 2009, said the statement.

Ranked as the world's largest modern smelter with a captive power station and widely regarded as the industrial flagship of the UAE, the state-owned enterprise attributes the achievement of this major production milestone to a strategic focus on optimising capacity utilisation, maximising operating efficiencies, continuous innovation and pro-actively meeting market needs.

"Exceeding one million tonnes in finished products in a single year is a tremendous feat for Dubal – especially as an annual production volume of 1,009,772 metric tonnes makes Dubal the largest single-site aluminium producer of value-added products in the world, by far," said Kalban.

"What's more, the record not only fulfilled a corporate objective in our 30th anniversary year, but it was also achieved in the midst of the global economic recession, which forced many other primary aluminium producers into a partial close-down of production capacity.

"We did this by establishing new markets for our metal, changing our product mix to meet the

needs of our customers, enhancing process efficiencies and improving our productivity levels."

Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.