DUBAI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - State-owned Emirates Aluminium (Emal) plans to ramp up output at a giant new aluminium plant to over 700,000 tonnes by the end of 2010, Emal's chief executive said on Tuesday. The United Arab Emirates' firm is building would eventually be the largest single aluminium plant in the world with capacity of 1.4 million tonnes, expected to come fully online in 2013-2014. The first phase was due to start early next year, told Reuters Television from Abu Dhabi. "We're going to come on a little bit in excess of 700,000 tonnes," Hedditch said. "We're on track to start early next year and we'll ramp up to full production sometime by the end of 2010." Emal is a joint venture between state-owned Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) and Mubadala Development Company. Mubadala is an investment vehicle owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, which produces most of the UAE's oil. The UAE is the world's third-largest oil exporter. Access to cheap energy would help Emal to be competitive, Hedditch said. Emal was proceeding with expansion even after other global aluminium producers have had to cut output due to the impact of the slowing economy on demand. "We're in fairly good shape, we'll be coming on as a low-cost producer," Hedditch said. "Aluminium smelting is really about turning electricity into aluminium. So if you've got a sustainable, strong position in energy then there's often a good opportunity in aluminium and that's the case here." Emal already has a couple of early sales deals in place and has had interest from potential buyers in Asia and Europe and from sectors including packaging, transportation and construction, Hedditch said. (Writing by Simon Webb; editing by Sue Thomas)
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