The Peninsula reported that the Middle East’s aluminium industry is in an advantageous position and can play a key role in industry consolidation and the development of new globally active players.

The Boston Consulting Group said that the Middle East’s strategic position is supported by the recent USD 15 billion merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium to create Emirates Global Aluminium, the world’s fifth largest aluminium producer.

The GCC aluminium market’s cost advantage is supported by its proximity to Europe, Asia and Africa and growing aluminium demand from the construction, packaging, transportation and industrial sectors. We are seeing local players make strategic movements both upstream and downstream as they build viable value chains and further aluminium driven manufacturing.

Mr Knut Olav R�d BCG partner said that “To become profitable and generate attractive returns for their shareholders in this environment, aluminium companies must adopt a more aggressive approach to confronting the industry’s challenges. We believe this more aggressive approach must be implemented on the industry level as well as the company level.”