Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the UAE’s biggest industrial company outside the oil and gas sector, signed a three-year contract with Vietnamese state-owned mining firm Vinacomin to procure alumina.
EGA will continue to buy up to 300,000 tonnes of alumina from Vinacomin each year until 2023. The deal extends an agreement the two companies signed in late 2017 which was due to expire at the end of this year.
“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,” Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, chief executive of EGA, said in a statement on Monday.
Alumina, refined from bauxite ore, is a key raw material in aluminium production and is the feedstock for aluminium smelters.
EGA also gets alumina from its $3.3 billion (Dh12.1bn) Al Taweelah refinery, which began operations in April. The refinery is expected to meet some 40 per cent of the company’s requirement of alumina when the facility reaches full production capacity in the first half of this year.
EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries. In 2018, the company produced a record 2.6 million tonnes of cast metal and earned a profit of Dh1.2bn on revenue of Dh23.5bn.
The company, which is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment arm, Mubadala Investment Company, and the Investment Corporation of Dubai, has more than 350 customers in about 60 countries. The majority of its sales originate from South-East Asia, followed by the US and Europe.
In February, EGA secured a $600 million revolving credit facility with a syndicate of UAE and international lenders to help manage its short-term capital and liquidity position.
