DUBAL and Emal jointly achieved their objectives in their participation at the Commodity Research Unit (CRU)’s World Aluminium Conference in London recently, the smelters said in a joint statement.

Their presence helped raise their profile, created awareness of the product portfolio and facilitated the marketing of Dubal’s in-house-developed advanced reduction technologies, it said.

Both smelters’ businesses were promoted by placing Dubal and Emal centre-stage at the event. They were the joint Platinum Sponsors of CRU 2013, and also sponsored both the CRU 2013 registration desk, and the auditorium. A joint Dubal-Emal stand in the exhibition component alongside the conference consolidated their corporate presence.

Emal’s vice president for projects, Yousuf Bastaki, delivered a presentation on “Aluminium Growth in the GCC Region” in a keynote session and Dubal’s senior manager for billet operations, Fadi Al Awadhalla, delivered his on “Aluminium: The transportation material of the future.”

Dubal and Emal’s participation at CRU 2013 targeted growth in market share within the European market. Since its first forays into the region in 1996, Dubal has developed long-term partnerships with customers that have driven consistent growth in the company’s sales volumes into Europe, despite the 6 per cent duty payable on alloyed aluminium. In 2012, almost 212,000 tonnes of Dubal metal reached Europe’s shores. A further 224,000 tonnes of metal produced by Emal was also sold in Europe during 2012 (amounting to 436,000 tonnes in total from both companies).

Going forward, the Dubal-Emal marketing and sales team anticipates selling about 490,000 tonnes of primary aluminium into Europe during 2013. The Emal product mix – comprising remelt aluminium and standard commodity ingot and sow, as well as sheet ingot and billets – complements Dubal’s product portfolio of high-purity sow and ingot, extrusion billet, foundry alloy, busbars and anode bars.

Walid Al Attar, executive vice president for marketing and sales, Dubal and Emal, highlighted the strategic importance of the European market for both producers by saying the Middle East is ideally located, both geographically and economically, to serve Europe. “We have already demonstrated Dubal’s and Emal’s commitment to the region by building and maintaining a comprehensive infrastructure of discharge port facilities and warehouses that, together, enable timely deliveries to aluminium end-users across Europe,” he said. “Also, Dubal has opened offices in Zurich, Switzerland, and Milan, Italy and this infrastructure now benefits both companies.”

According to analysts, the European Union as a whole currently needs to import approximately 70 per cent of its primary aluminium requirements, and this figure is increasing. “This translates into excellent opportunities to grow the individual and combined market share of Dubal and Emal in the region; such that we are confident of continued demand for our products,” Al Attar commented.

By promoting the two companies’ facilities and the joint product portfolio at CRU 2013, they showed how the combined production volumes can help meet a significant portion of the primary aluminium production deficit in Europe, he said.