Alcoa strikes 8-year deal to supply Emirates Global Aluminium

Alcoa inked a multi-year agreement for the Pittsburgh-based company to supply Emirates Global Aluminum with smelter grade alumina.

The 8-year agreement, which begins in 2024, will allow EGA to procure as much as 15.6 million metric tons of alumina from Western Australia. The deal will represent a significant portion of Alcoa’s annual third-party alumina sales and will make Alcoa EGA’s largest third-party supplier of alumina, the company said. EGA’s Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi met 47% of EGA’s total alumina needs in 2022.

Alumina is a white, crystalline form of aluminum oxide with a sand-like consistency. Smelter-grade alumina is used to make aluminum metal. Alcoa also produces non-metallurgical alumina, which is sold for other industrial applications, such as water purification.

The companies did not disclose financial terms of the deal.

“Alcoa operates the world’s largest third-party alumina business with low-carbon processes, and we’re proud to be recognized with this significant additional volume from EGA as a leading global producer,” Roy Harvey, Alcoa’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “The agreement is the largest alumina supply contract ever signed between Alcoa and EGA, and it will strengthen the long-term supply relationship between our two companies.”

EGA, an integrated aluminum producer, is the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside of oil and gas. It operates smelters in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, an alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi and a bauxite mine in the Republic of Guinea.

“Most of our alumina needs into the next decade are now secured by our own production and a long-term supplier in Alcoa that is aligned with our sustainability goals,” said Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, EGA’s Chief Executive Officer.

EGA is equally owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.