Aluminium glut may hit production

Dubai: Due to the financial turmoil, the demand for aluminium is falling worldwide and is expected to drop further next year, prompting at least one Gulf company to review its production target.

According to Abdullah Kalban, president and chief executive of Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal), aluminium inventories have peaked worldwide, from 900,000 tonnes early this year to 1.6 million tonnes recently.

"For the end of this year, the inventory is expected to be around 2 million tonnes. This will have some sort of pressure on the prices. Definitely, the credit crunch is causing the demand to go down," Kalban told Gulf News after the opening of the 13th International Arab Aluminium Conference and Exhibition (Arabal 2008) on Sunday night.

Dubal is ranked world's seventh largest producer of primary aluminium and serves more than 290 clients in 46 countries, predominantly in the Far East, Europe and Southeast Asia. Its current production is pegged at 960,000 tonnes and is expected to hit 1 million tonnes next year.