UAE aluminium giant gears up to tap Chinese market

DUBAI - Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said here Monday in an e-mailed statement that it has opened its first office in Shanghai.

The office in Shanghai of EGA's wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary will source raw materials and other supplies in China.

EGA has procured over $500 million of supplies from the world's second economy over the past two years, it said. "Shanghai is an important economic centre in China," EGA's CEO Abdulla Kalban told Xinhua by e-Mail.

Kalban said "China is already a substantial source of raw materials and supplies for EGA, and we expect the importance of China for our business to grow in the coming years."

The scale in future of EGA's sourcing from China and sales into China will depend on the success of commercial discussions, he explained.

Kalban said the UAE is strategically situated in West Asia, an area of focus for China under its Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to revive ancient Silk Road trading links.

In 2014, China replaced India as Dubai's biggest trade partner and has retained this position since then, he said.