UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain ink multi-billion-dollar industrial agreements, including aluminium value chain

According to our report from the MENA region, over $2 billion in industrial agreements were signed in Amman, the capital and the largest city of Jordan, at the third Higher Committee meeting of the Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development, a regional initiative involving the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain.

The UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technologies, firms from the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain signed 12 agreements covering 9 industrial projects, including some vital industrial projects from the aluminium value chain. The aluminium sector-centric agreements reveal that the $550 million manufacturing project was announced as being launched by the UAE-based automaker M Glory Holding. Three electric vehicle (EV) facilities will be built as part of the initiative in the UAE, Jordan, and Egypt. Forty thousand (40,000) compact crossover SUVs will be produced annually during the first three years of operation.

M Glory Holding was established to invest in shaping the future technology in the Middle East by utilizing the fourth industrial revolution and sustainability in building the automotive industry, robotic technology and real estate projects. It inked an MoU with the Jordan Design and Development Bureau and Egypt's Arab Organisation for Industrialisation as manufacturing partners, and with Bahrain's GARMCO to supply aluminium sheets.

Aluminium weighs about one-third the weight of steel per cubic foot, allowing electric vehicles to be "lightweight" and perform better in terms of distance travelled before batteries need to be recharged. AlCircle's latest industry-focused 'Global Aluminium Industry Outlook 2023' reveals that the rapid development of the EV market across the world will support the use of aluminium. The Global sales of EVs in 2021 stood at 6.6 million, out of which China recorded 3.3 million unit sales. 

The global leader in aluminium production and also one of the largest business houses in UAE, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) announced a $200 million investment to establish a silicon metal plant in the UAE with a yearly production capacity of 55,000 tonnes. The company signed an MoU with Jordan’s Manaseer Group to supply the required crystalline silica. Adding high-purity silicon to aluminium causes the metal to deteriorate more slowly. It also gives the metal a lower thermal expansion temperature, improving the casting melt’s fluidity. Finally, silicon decreases contraction during the alloy’s solidification process, adding malleability and strength.

A magnesium oxide facility in Jordan will be expanded for $70 million and have a 270,000-tonne annual production capacity to be exported to UAE. It will provide Emirates Global Aluminium with its product. The planned start date for production is 2024.