Dubal to double European exports

State-owned smelter Dubai Aluminium Co. (Dubal) plans to double its exports to Europe and Mediterranean countries in five years to meet rising demand, the company said on Sunday.

Dubal has said its aluminium exports to Europe amounted to around 218,000 tonnes in 2006, a rise of 51.1 % from the previous year.

In 2006 the firm produced 861,000 tonnes of aluminium, used mainly in construction, transport and the electrical industries.

"Demand for aluminium is already huge in Europe which is an ideal market for Dubal from a geographic, economic and freight perspective," Dubal's general manager for marketing and sales, Walid Al Attar, said in a statement.

The European Union currently imposes a 6 % levy on aluminium imports from Gulf countries.

But when a planned free-trade agreement between the EU and Gulf Arab states is signed, Gulf aluminium exports to Europe would be tax-exempt.

"The EU-GCC free trade agreement, expected to be signed this year, will make European markets far more accessible to Dubal," Al Attar said.

Dubal produces primary aluminium, value-added products including foundry alloy for automotive wheels, extrusion billet for construction purposes and high-purity aluminium for the electronics industry.

Dubal's only competitor in the Gulf Arab region is Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), with capacity of 830,000 tonnes a year. In five years, Dubal aims to be among the world's top five aluminium producers.

Dubal has announced plans to build an $8 billion aluminium smelter complex, which would start operations in 2010. The project would raise its output capacity to 1.4 million tonnes a year making it the world's largest.

Russia's Rusal operates the world's biggest smelter, at Bratsk, with a capacity of 976,000 tonnes per year.