EGA three-year alumina supply deal with Vietnam’s Vinacomin

Posted by Daniel Gleeson on 18th December 2017

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has signed a three-year alumina supply agreement with Vinacomin, a Vietnamese state-owned firm. Under the agreement, Vinacomin will supply EGA with up to 300,000 t/y of alumina.

The deal is the first long-term agreement to supply Vietnamese alumina to the UAE and significantly boosts the bilateral trading relationship between the two countries.

The agreement was signed in Hanoi by EGA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Abdulla Kalban and Vinacom’s President and Chief Executive Officer Dang Thanh Hai, and was witnessed by the UAE Ambassador to Vietnam His Excellency Khalid Alqahtani.

Abdulla Kalban said: “This agreement with Vinacomin is in line with our strategy to diversify our sources of supply for alumina, to secure the resources that the UAE’s aluminium industry needs to grow at competitive prices. We are pleased to have Vinacomin as an alumina supplier for EGA, and also to see the economic relationship between our two countries grow. We hope to develop our relationship with Vinacomin further in the future.”

Dang Thanh Hai said: “Although Vinacomin’s alumina just entered the world alumina market four years ago, it has been accepted by worldclass customers, such as EGA, one of the leading premium aluminium producers, as expressed by the signing between Vinacomin and EGA.

“For Vinacomin, this agreement is in line with the direction of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, to contribute to promoting cooperation between Vietnam and the UAE. We look forward to further cooperation for mutual benefit in the future.”

EGA currently imports all the alumina it needs. It is building the UAE’s first alumina refinery at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi. Once construction is completed and full production is achieved, the Al Taweelah alumina refinery will produce 2 Mt/y of alumina, enough to meet 40% of EGA’s requirements.

EGA is also building a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.