October 2012 Issue - Gulf Aluminium Council

ALUMINIUMIN THE GULFgac.aeNEWSLETTER October 2012GAC Board and AGM MeetingSpecialThank You AwardThe GAC Board of Directors met in Dubai on the 26 th of September toreview the developments & activities of GAC so far and this was followedby the AGM where the audited accounts were presented. Continued page 2Market UpdateAbdul Wahab Al Madani, Senior Manager,Supply Chain of Dubal received GACSpecial Thank You award from the GACBoard of Directors at the board meetingheld on the 26 th of September. “This awardis given to individuals or groups of peoplewho provide significant contributions to theactivities of GAC”, said Mahmood Daylami,Secretary General of GAC.” A. Wahab hasbeen a very strong supporter and valuablecontributor to GAC activities since the GACoffice was established in Dubai in 2010and the Board of Directors immenselyappreciates his assistance”, he added.The award was presented on behalf of theBoard by Engr. Abdullah Busfar, Chairmanof the Board, Ma’aden.A specially commissioned study for GAC on Global MacroeconomicsOutlook, Aluminium Supply and Demand, Downstream Development andRaw Materials was presented by Harbor Commodity Research to GACmembers on 25 th of September in Dubai.Gulf AluminiumDinner 2013 in Bahrainwith Formula OneContinued page 2 Continued page 6

GAC Board and AGM MeetingWhen both Ma’aden and Emal projects are completed,GCC smelters will be producing more than 5 million tonnesper year or 10% of the world production in 2014. At least3 of the GCC smelters will be among the top 10 smeltersin the world. Undoubtedly, the Gulf region has not onlybecome the most active area for producing aluminium butalso an important one to maintain the steady supply of themetal to the growing world demand.In contrast, we see that the productions in the westerncountries are reducing due to the high energy costeither by downsizing or complete shutdown of smelters.This makes GCC even more important and GAC moreessential. Especially since that the downstream industriesare also going through substantial development with therolling mill in Saudi Arabia and Oman, extrusions in AbuDhabi and Qatar and potential expansion of GARMCOin Bahrain.While focusing on GCC Aluminium Industries; productionis more than ever before, so will be our responsibilities inmaintaining the lead in producing the quality metal andmore importantly with care for the environment and safetyof the people as top priorities.Market UpdateThe presentation which also covered financial outlook as well as future prospects for the aluminium industrywas attended by the Chief Executive Officers, Directors and Marketing Managers of the 6 smelters in the GCCand the major aluminium downstream companies.“This is an annual event that GAC organizes exclusively for its members to provide comprehensive analysisof the present and the future prospects of the aluminium industry taking into consideration the economical &demographical developments in different regions of the world”, said Mahmood Daylami, Secretary General, GAC.1st GAC Carbon Conference - Huge SuccessThe1 st GAC carbon conference that took place from the 3 rd - 5 th September this year was a huge success, 65 participantsfrom GCC smelters attended and the speakers were from the smelters and international suppliers of raw material andcarbon plant equipment. Materials covered a wide range of topics that included green and calcined coke and pitchproperties and recent developments in paste plant process, control systems, anode baking and furnaces technologiesand assembly plus anode behavior in electrolysis process and environmental consideration in anode production.Participants also visited Emal carbon plant which is considered the newest and the most modern carbon plant in the world.The conference “was one of the best carbon conference I attended”, as one of the participant remarked. “Very interactiveand focused”, said another.

MANAGEMENT NOTESafety: Beyond policies and proceduresBy MM DaylamiLarge sums of money are being invested by someindustries to raise the level of safety. Yet there is noagreed method or understanding of what level ofsafety performance is acceptable and who shoulddefine acceptable performance.In contrast when determining financial performancesof an organization, it is easier and well defined.International Financial Standards are applied, andresults are produced and vigorously discussed atManagement and Board levels on regular basis.Beyond the glossy statements that are producedfrom time to time, how really important is safety tothe Board and top management? How often doestop management discuss safety at their meeting?Or only when there is a serious case that just tookplace? How and at what level do Management andEmployee participate in safety issues? What criteriaare being used? And what training are provided tothe employees?Having a safety audit, policies and procedures is anessential step but only the first step. The real workis ensuring that they are consistently implemented,they are regularly updated and most importantly thatemployees believe in them.In order to improve the safety standard and workingconditions, such improvements can only be sustainedby educated and safety motivated employees whoare developing and adapting behavior that protectsthemselves and others.This of course is not just a question of following a setof rules, because rules and regulations themselvesare not adequate. It is like driving a car. There are alot of regulations about how to drive but there are stillbad drivers.In the end, achieving a high standard of performancewhether related to safety or doing any other job,depends on a large extent on what our consciencetells us is an acceptable performance. This, in turn,depends on the environment, on knowledge andtraining. Institutions such as family, schools andorganizations have an impact on our lives and they allstrive to build a high standard of performance amongindividuals while the individuals raise their standardprovided they are highly motivated to do so. Not allemployees are the same and no one is perfect, but tosome this might be a challenge while to others it canbe used as an excuse.GACPower Committeedrives efficiencyThe GAC power committee, which consists ofGeneral Managers responsible for power plantsOperations and Maintenance in GCC Smeltersmet on the 27 th of September at ALBA, Bahrain.The committee is formed to share best-practice,benchmark non-confidential information and buildcloser cooperation with the aim to improve plantavailability, reduce gas consumption and cost.The committee meets periodically in one of theSmelters in the GCC.

INTERVIEWModar Al MekdadGeneral Manager, Gulf Extrusions Co LLCWhat is the progress with Abu Dhabi Plant?We are at the final stage of freezing the technicalspecification of the plant and we are expecting tostart with the civil works by end of the year so thatthe production will take place in 2014.What is your future plan, regionally andinternationally, with special reference to newproduct, if any?Aluminium extrusion industry has many applicationsand in GCC demands are mainly for architecturalapplications. At Gulf Extrusions we are diversifyingour product range to include automotive andindustrial applications, with the aim to encouragethe industrial stakeholders to setup business inGCC countries because of the incentives andbenefits the region offers to investors. For thesame reason we also setup Refco Metals whichspecializes in machining aluminium extrudedprofiles for automotive sector. Besides our project inAbu Dhabi, we are also setting up Surface Treatmentfacility plant in Qatar, and also opening new officesin India, U.K. and Holland.We are also introducing a new product called GreenAluminium (commercial name is X-ECO) with carbonfootprint lower than primary aluminium and hasover 80% post consumed recycled content.There is also a new series of architectural systemswhich will be shown in the upcoming Aluminium2012 Exhibition in Dusseldorf, Germany.Where is your target market?Gulf Extrusions is supplying extruded profiles toalmost four continents i.e. Europe, Africa, Asia, USand Canada. Our target is to diversify our marketpresence in order to minimize the impact and dropin demand from certain markets.We have too many extruders in the Gulf? Morethan what the Gulf needs.Due to the construction boom that took place inthe UAE from 2003 to 2008, many investors wereunder the impression that the demand for extrusionswill continue. Moreover, there was no accurateinformation about supply and demand of extrusiondue to the absence of any official statistics that theconstruction industry can rely on.The installed capacity in the UAE has doubled byalmost 1½ times more than the actual demand andalmost all extruders in the UAE are trying to enter newmarkets outside the region to keep the plant running.Another factor is that all new extruders were notattracting special markets or products. It was justa copy of each other and this was one of the mainreasons Gulf Extrusions diversified its product rangeto cover wider range of industries. As a result, weare in a better position today.What are your challenges, locally or internationally?o On the local level, support for the industrialsector needs to be enhanced especially with theincrease in the cost of production due to increasein cost of utilities.o Absence of local/regional specifications andstandards for aluminium extrusions will allowinferior aluminium to flow into the region withoutany regulations.o On the international level, we are still facinglong pending issues on import duties applied foraluminium products produced in GCC countries aswell as in India and some of the African countries.We believe that once FTA (Free Trade Agreement)is signed between GCC and these countries, thiswill allow more aluminium to flow into this region.Tim Murray isappointed as CEOof Alba effective 1stOctober 2012,Tim succeedsLaurent Schmitt.

Gulf Aluminium Dinner 201320th - 21st April, Bahrain with Formula oneThe Gulf Aluminium Dinner 2013 will be held inBahrain to coincide with the Formula 1 event. Thedinner which is considered to be the major highlevel gathering on the aluminium calendar will be onthe 20 th April and all the guests will be hosted byAluminium Bahrain, ALBA, at the Formula 1 final on21 st April at the Bahrain International Circuit.This is a very special occasion whereby executivesfrom aluminium producing companies, technologyproviders, power generation manufacturers, tradersand aluminium users from different parts of theworld will gather to build on the good relationshipthat already exists between the aluminium industryin the Gulf region and companies that are involvedin the aluminium business.The dinner is exclusive and by invitation only and waspreviously held in Dubai (2011) and Abu Dhabi (2012).For more details, please contact:Adele CarollissenManager - Events and SupportTel +971 4 2942 332 / +971 50 5578 645Email adele@gac.ae