Fears of escalating politicalunrest across the Middle East and North Africa will not put offinvestment in new aluminium projects in the region, industryexperts say.
Gulf states in particular are expected to become anincreasingly important aluminium supply source as new smeltersstart up and others are planned. "If there is any fear from the investors side now, this willonly be temporary and they will come back again," said MahmoodDaylami, general secretary of the Gulf Aluminum Council. "So farthere are no signs of investors pulling out of any [aluminium] projects."
The Gulf is one of the few areas, outside top producerChina, where aluminium output is rising, benefiting from readyavailability of cheap power for the energy-intensive smeltingprocess.
High power costs have forced the idling of a large amount ofsmelter capacity in the United States and Europe over the years. It was too early to say whether projects in the Middle Eastmight be derailed, according to Olivier Masson of industryconsultants CRU Group.
"If the turmoil were to escalate, it could be a worry as theMiddle East is one of the main growth areas outside China," headded.
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