Alcan willing to spend $3b in the Middle East

Canada-based aluminium maker Alcan said yesterday it is willing to spend up to $3 billion in building smelters in the Middle East if it can find joint venture partners.

"I see no problem today if we were to spend $2-$3 billion in the region in the short term," Alcan Primary Metal Group President and Chief Executive Michel Jacques told Gulf News.

He said the company needs to find new areas for building plants to replace some of its existing production facilities.

"We need to replace some of our obsolete facilities or older facilities and increase capacity somewhere else," Jacques said, adding that the Middle East is "certainly one of the areas we are looking at".

He said availability of cheaper energy makes setting up of smelters attractive in the region.

Jacques said Alcan is keen to set up a 700,000-tonne capacity plant in Saudi Arabia if it found a partner.

"We are talking to many people in Saudi Arabia. We have met a number of interesting parties," he said.

"There appears to be a great interest in seeing a solid, profitable aluminium industry set foot in Saudi Arabia and I think we certainly want to be there," he added.

Global demand for primary aluminium is rising about four per cent per year, but the supply gap will widen over the next few years as some smelters in Europe, China and North America will shut down due rising energy costs.