(Bloomberg) -- The Middle East’s biggest aluminum producer said it may take as long as a year to restore full output at its Abu Dhabi plant, following an Iranian attack a week ago.
Emirates Global Aluminium said the Al Taweelah smelter went into emergency shutdown, after suffering significant damage from missiles and drones. The company has completed an initial damage assessment of the facilities in the United Arab Emirates and is in contact with customers whose shipments may be impacted, it said in a statement Friday.
The Middle East accounts for about 9% of global aluminum production, but the impact of the war is being amplified because constraints on output elsewhere have eroded inventories, leaving the market with little buffer to cushion any shocks. Even before the attacks on EGA’s facilities, the industry was bracing for more production cuts as Strait of Hormuz disruptions affected the flow of raw materials for the region’s plants.
“To resume operations at the smelter, EGA must repair infrastructure damage and progressively restore each of the reduction cells,” the company said in the statement. “Early indications are that a complete restoration of primary aluminum production could take up to 12 months.”
Aluminum prices have climbed more than 10% on the London Metal Exchange since the start of the Iran war.
Al Taweelah is one of the world’s biggest smelters, producing 1.6 million tons of cast metal in 2025. Other facilities at the site in Abu Dhabi, including an alumina refinery and a metals recycling plant, could resume some production earlier, pending a final damage assessment, EGA said.
Read: Top Gulf Aluminum Producer EGA Halted Output After Iran Strike
“We are working directly with customers whose deliveries might be impacted by the situation at Al Taweelah,” EGA Chief Executive Officer Abdulnasser Bin Kalban said in the statement.
Iran also hit Aluminium Bahrain’s smelter in the Persian Gulf on March 28. The company known as Alba said it’s assessing damages.
--With assistance from Julian Luk.
(Adds detail on damage from second paragraph, company comments from third.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
LATEST POSTS
- 1
IDF destroys two-kilometer-long Gaza terror tunnel in Beit Lahiya - 2Step by step instructions to Choose the Right Auto Crash Legal counselor for Your Case
- 3What we know about Renee Nicole Good, the woman who was killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis
- 4Far-right leader Le Pen to attend Brigitte Bardot's funeral
- 5Thermo Fisher wins contracts as pharma shifts production to US, CEO says
- Why screening for the deadliest cancer in the U.S. misses most cases
- NASA’s Pandora telescope will study stars in detail to learn about the exoplanets orbiting them
- From School Dropout to Example of overcoming adversity: My Excursion
- How we came to be: Scientists get first look at the evolution of early complex animals
- Data centers in space: Will 2027 really be the year AI goes to orbit?
- 2 bright planets light up April evenings — here's where and when to look
- Honda’s Biggest Flex Isn’t Its Superbikes, It’s Selling 500K Bikes In One Month
- Hunger and makeshift shelters persist in north Caribbean nearly 2 months after Hurricane Melissa
- Delta flight bound for Atlanta makes emergency landing after engine issue
