Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mills (Garmco) purchased primary metal from abroad to meet its 2005 production target of 151,000 tonnes, a senior official said.

The company’s output in the previous year was 138,411 tonnes. Garmco’s quota from Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) for 2005 was around 138,000 tonnes.
Garmco deputy general manager Adel Hamad Abdul Rahman said Alba was unable to supply on time the additional tonnage required for meeting the target, forcing it to buy from South Africa.
For 2006, Alba assured Garmco it would “slightly” increase its supply. The purchase of primary metal is of critical importance to Garmco, which is Alba’s main customer. “Garmco has more ambitions than what the local market can supply. The future of primary metal supply looks encouraging as more smelters are being built in Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia,” said Adel Hamad.
The company recently completed a capacity expansion from 145,000 tonnes to 160,000 tonnes at a cost of $10 million. The expansion, carried out by a Garmco team, involved equipment enhancement and relieving bottlenecks within the distribution of equipment and process.
For the next expansion, the company is working with consultants to complete marketing and engineering studies. Adel Hamad said the full details of the project were not currently available but that the intention was to increase capacity to 380,000 tpy by using the continuous casting process
In 2006, Garmco will invest more than $3 million for maintaining the integrity of the existing plant and improving the level of environmental control, output and quality.
Thanks to the additional capacity and good prices, Garmco expects its turnover to reach  $390 million in 2005 against $370 million in the previous year.
Garmco sold 117,000 tonnes of coils in 2005, a 12 per cent surge over the previous year, and 28,000 tonnes of sheets, up 2 per cent over 2004. It also marketed 6,000 tonnes of foil. In 2005, demand rose expectedly in all regions while competition was “stronger” in China as the tax structure there was changed by the Chinese government, said Adel Hamad. The official also noted that aluminium prices had reached their highest levels for some years. “Customers who deal in spot business are being very cautious in booking orders and trying to reduce their inventory,” he remarked.
 In 2005, the burgeoning Middle East and Africa market saw an 8 per cent increase in sales of Garmco products to more than 45,000 tonnes. The growth in exports to the Far East was smaller although the region still takes in a considerable portion of the company’s production. The material exported there in 2005 was 62,000 tonnes, 3 per cent higher than in 2004. “This market is increasing rapidly and we expect more sales in the future. Garmco is very keen to continue developing this market and expanding its presence in the future,” remarked Adel Hamad.
Sales to Europe climbed 5 per cent to 24,000 tonnes. “This market is very important for Garmco as it is fully developed and considered good for benchmarking industry efficiency,” the official commented.
The US imported 15,000 tonnes of Garmco products, up 7 per cent over 2004.
Over the years, the company has been successful in lowering production costs by $118 per tonne, raising the yield increase to 76.2 per cent and expanding the Bahrainisation level to 85 per cent of the workforce. The recruitment of local staff will increase by 1 per cent annually.