Middle East's top aluminum maker says main smelter damaged

Anthony Di Paola and Sara Gharaibeh, Bloomberg News on Mar 28, 2026

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The largest Middle East aluminum producer sustained “significant damage” during an Iranian missile and drone attack on Saturday, highlighting the challenge to the global economy as the ongoing Middle East war disrupts vital industries.

The United Arab Emirates is a major supplier to global markets and Emirates Global Aluminium operates its biggest metals plant. The attack is another blow to the region’s commodity industry, with producers of everything from energy to fertilizers mostly prevented from exporting by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

In addition to the disruption to shipping, Iranian attacks have damaged key facilities, likely extending the time it will take for operations to return to normal when the war is over.

Aluminum prices, already rising before the conflict, have gained further as traders and buyers focus on the potential for tighter markets and shrinking global inventories. The Middle East accounts for around 9% of global supply and much of that is now blocked inside Hormuz. Higher commodity prices will weigh on global economies, according to Goldman Sachs Group.

EGA is still assessing damage from the attack on its Al Taweelah site located at the Khalifa Port industrial zone in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the company said in a statement. It confirmed that several employees were injured, but declined to say whether operations at the facility had been suspended.

The Abu Dhabi media office earlier on Saturday said six people were injured in three fires caused by ballistic missile interception debris in the vicinity of the Kezad industrial zone. The strikes were part of a series of attacks by Iran on Gulf countries, even as the Trump administration pursued discussions around a potential ceasefire.

As the biggest non-energy industrial company in the UAE, EGA operates two smelters, one each in the emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The Al Taweelah site is halfway between the cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the Khalifa Economic Zone along the Persian Gulf. The Dubai plant is in the Jebel Ali port and freezone area.

The Al Taweelah smelter produced 1.6 million tonnes of cast metal in 2025. The company had substantial metal stock offshore when Israel and the US began their war on Iran last month as well as in some overseas locations, according to the statement. It’s used that external product to help meet customer demand.

EGA has been a major international investor and is part of the UAE’s pledge to spend $1.4 trillion in the U.S. over the next decade. The UAE has been the second-largest aluminum supplier to the US, well behind Canada, and is building the first new American smelter in decades in Oklahoma.

In the U.S., EGA also owns a recycling plant in Minnesota that’s allowed it to benefit from domestically produced metals selling at higher prices due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.