The Emirates Global Aluminium has shut down its refinery and is seeking to sell a large quantity of alumina.
April 3, 2026
According to an informed source, after an attack on an aluminum smelting plant in the suburbs of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates Global Aluminum Company (EGA) has begun to seek to sell a large quantity of alumina - the key raw material needed for the production of aluminum.
Insiders said that EGA has provided several batches of spot-grade alumina this week and plans to load them onto ships between April and June. Before making this potential sale, the company had stated that the attack on its Altavira smelter last Saturday had caused "significant" damage. This plant is one of the largest aluminum smelters in the world.
The company said on Wednesday that it was unable to comment immediately.
EGA has been conducting damage assessments at the site, but since the weekend, the price of aluminum has risen significantly. At that time, another large factory operated by Bahrain Aluminum Company was also attacked by Iran. These attack incidents have brought new risks to the supply in the region, intensifying the pressure on those smelters that are facing production cuts due to the shortage of raw materials flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Aluminum is the second most commonly used industrial metal after steel. However, in recent years, this industry has faced multiple disruptions in the complex global supply chain. This supply chain involves the extraction of bauxite, its refining into alumina, and then its smelting into finished metal. Although EGA can produce some of the alumina itself, it is usually a large buyer of this material and imports additional goods through the Strait of Hormuz to supply the Altawila smelter and another smelter located in Dubai.
While waiting for the details of the severity of the attack, some analysts warned that EGA's confirmation of significant losses indicated that the factory might have experienced an unplanned shutdown, causing the metal to solidify in its smelting circuit. In such a situation, the cost and time required for maintenance would be high, and analysts at Natixis estimated that the repair time could exceed one year.
