Morocco has reached a $3 billion green aluminum agreement with China
September 24, 2025
According to a report by the Moroccan Diplomatic newspaper on September 18th, Morocco and China signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop an integrated low-carbon aluminum industrial park with a total investment of 3 billion US dollars. The agreement was signed in Beijing by Morocco's sovereign fund Ithmar Capital and several central enterprises in China. The Chinese partners include State Grid Corporation of China and Shanghai Electric Group. According to African Intelligence, the private enterprise Shanghai Fanghao Industrial Group and the State Power Investment Corporation play a key intermediary role in this cooperation. The latter announced at the beginning of this year that it would build an alumina refinery with an annual output of 1.2 million tons in Guinea, which is expected to provide stable raw material guarantees for the project in Morocco.
The "green" core of this project lies in the supporting construction of renewable energy infrastructure, including solar power stations, wind farms and green hydrogen power generation projects. In terms of metallurgical processes, future factories will adopt the Hall-Ehrute alumina electrolysis method. In subsequent stages, cutting-edge technologies such as inert anodes and advanced aluminum recycling may be introduced to further reduce the carbon footprint. The project site is likely to be close to deep-water ports such as Tangier Mediterranean Port, Nadorsi Mediterranean Port or Juffle-Les-Ferre Port, facilitating the import of raw alumina and the export of finished aluminum ingots.
Europe will implement the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) starting from 2026. The low-carbon aluminum produced by this project can not only avoid relevant tariffs but also is expected to make Morocco the first African country to have a world-class low-carbon aluminum industrial chain, reshaping the current market pattern dominated by enterprises from Europe and Asia.
