EGA sticks to aluminum investment plans despite Iran war

Reuters | May 12, 2026 | 6:46 am Iran War Middle East Aluminum

The US plant is expected to have a production capacity of 600 thousand tonnes of primary aluminum per year. Credit: Emirates Global Aluminium

Emirates Global Aluminium is sticking with its investment plans to increase production and recycling of the metal despite the Iran war, the company’s chief marketing officer said on Tuesday.

EGA, the largest aluminum producer in the Gulf, was forced to shut down its Al Taweelah smelter in the United Arab Emirates after an Iranian attack in late March. Overseas, it is planning to build the first new primary aluminum smelter in the United States in almost 50 years alongside Century Aluminum.

It may take a year to restore Abu Dhabi aluminum output, EGA says

“I think from an investment point of view, nothing is really changing,” Adel Abubakar said during a panel discussion at the CRU World Aluminium Conference on Tuesday. “We’re … obviously making sure we get everything in the UAE restarted and back up and running to support our customers globally. We export 90%.”

“But in terms of the growth, I don’t think anything changes. We’re moving… on the recycling side. On the primary side, we obviously have announced the project in Oklahoma. That’s moving on as planned,” he said, adding that EGA hoped to break ground on the project this year.

EGA has a 60% stake in the US smelter, which the Oklahoma Department of Commerce expects to cost $4 billion. It is slated to produce 750,000 metric tons per year of aluminum, more than doubling current US production.

EGA’s other smelter in the UAE, at Jebel Ali, has been operating as usual as the conflict rumbles on, Abubakar told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.

(By Tom Daly and Polina Devitt; Editing by Mark Potter and Alexandra Hudson)