Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) has cut its production output for 2009 by 60,000 tonnes as the global financial slowdown leads to a slackening in demand for the metal.
The state-owned company had taken the decision to scale back output at its smelter in response to market conditions, with the price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME) remaining below expectations, said Khalid Essa Abdulla Buhumaid, vice president, corporate relations and international affairs for the firm.
Dubal had set an increased production target of 1million tonnes for 2009 but Buhumaid said it had since decided to cut that to 940,000 tonnes.
He said the company was still in negotiations over the development of alumina projects in Cameroon and the Republic of Guinea.
It was reported in November that Dubal was one of three companies behind Cameroon Alumina Limited (CAL), a joint venture which aims to exploit a 1.2-billion-tonne bauxite deposit in Cameroon.
It is also a partner in a joint venture, known as the Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC), to develop and operate the Sangaredi Refinery project in Guinea.
“We are still in negotiations and the prospects for Cameroon and Guinea are still looking good and any major breakthrough will be made public,” said Buhumaid.