Jan 15, 2014
Riyadh- 15-1-2014
The Saudi Mining Company (Ma’aden) today announced that it has concluded several contracts to supply Asian customers with over 300 KMT of primary aluminum throughout 2014, complementing the 50 KMT in supply agreements made with local and Turkey customers.
“Today we announce that Ma’aden has arrived as a global primary Aluminium supplier,” said Ma’aden Aluminium Vice President Eng. Khalid Al Luhaidan. “Together, these supply agreements not only meet a significant portion of Asian demand, but they also represent an important milestone in our journey to becoming a world class minerals enterprise”.
The 2014 supply contracts concluded by Ma’aden commit the company to deliver product to domestic buyers within Saudi Arabia; to regional buyers in Turkey; and to Asian buyers in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and other SE Asian countries.
Ma’aden Aluminum Marketing and Logistics Director Eng. Dhari Al-Shunaifi is focused on the future: “We have signed a number of key sales agreements with major partners in the region and our higher production volumes in 2014 onward will allow Ma’aden to further build on this success by expanding our geographic marketing and global sales footprint. Ma’aden positions itself as a strategic primary supplier to Asian markets, mainly Japan and Korea where we will be one of the biggest suppliers starting from 2014,” he added.
During 2014, Ma’aden’s flagship aluminium smelter at Ras Al Khair will reach full production capacity of 740,000 tons of high quality primary aluminium products. The smelter is part of the Ma’aden / Alcoa joint venture which, when completed in late 2014, will represent the world’s largest vertically integrated aluminum project. As majority partner in this joint venture, Ma’aden will take a 74.9% share of the output. Ma’aden has been building its marketing capacity in order to support local Saudi economic growth as well as penetrate the highly competitive markets in Asia.