The largest aluminum plant in the Middle East was bombed, leading to a complete shutdown, and the global aluminum shortage crisis is rapidly worsening.

Ask AI · How could the attack on a Middle East aluminum plant trigger a global aluminum supply crisis?

The production capacity of Middle East aluminum giants has been hit one after another, which may lead to an evaporation of 3 million tons of annual capacity—nearly half of the region’s production capacity—ringing the alarm for global aluminum market supply.

According to sources familiar with the matter, after the Al Taweelah smelter of Emirates Global Aluminum (Emirates Global Aluminum, abbreviated as EGA), the largest aluminum producer in the Middle East, was attacked by Iranian missiles and drones over the weekend, it has now shut down completely.

The source, who requested anonymity because the information is not public, said that the smelter located on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi was forced to shut down uncontrollably after the attack caused a power outage. The melting facilities known as “electrolytic cells” were forced into an uncontrolled shutdown, with metal solidifying inside the electrolysis circuit, causing severe damage to production equipment.

After Bloomberg reported the shutdown, aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose as much as 2% at one point. Shares of competitors such as Alcoa Corp. and Century Aluminum Co. jumped by more than 7%.

Due to the Iran war disrupting relevant business operations in the region, aluminum prices surge

Since the attack, LME aluminum futures prices have skyrocketed significantly. Another major producer in the region, Aluminium Bahrain (Aluminium Bahrain, abbreviated as Alba), also confirmed that its plants were attacked by Iran over the weekend. Both of these plants are among the world’s top aluminum plants, producing 1.6 million tons of aluminum each in 2025.

Ewa Manthey, a commodities strategist at ING Groep NV, said that if EGA’s smelter shuts down and Alba cuts production—combined with the prior production reductions at Qatalum—this would lead to about 3 million tons of annual capacity going offline, close to half of Middle East aluminum capacity. This marks a sharp escalation in supply interruptions, and in all scenarios it would mean “the aluminum market shortage worsens.”

Middle East aluminum production accounts for about 9% of the global total, and companies such as EGA are key suppliers for manufacturers in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Even before the direct attack on Middle East aluminum plants, the de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz had already left major regional producers facing critical raw-material shortages. The industry expects that if the strait cannot be reopened soon, there will be a wave of cascading production cuts.

“The Strait of Hormuz is essentially a choke point in the global aluminum market,” Charvi Trivedi, chief analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said in a report dated April 1. She expects the disruption to reduce global aluminum output this year by 3 million to 3.5 million tons. “Here, supply disruptions could cut off up to 60% of the alumina supply to Middle East smelters, rapidly intensifying shortages in the market.”

Aluminum is the second most commonly used industrial metal after steel. But in recent years, amid the complex global supply chain involving bauxite mining, refining it into alumina, and remelting it into finished aluminum products, the industry has repeatedly suffered disruptions. While EGA can produce some alumina itself, it is usually a major buyer of the raw material and needs to transport additional cargoes through the strait to ensure production at Al Taweelah and another smelter in Dubai.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that after the attack, EGA had begun selling off large amounts of alumina inventory.

In March, besides aluminum, base metals broadly came under pressure. Middle East conflict disrupted commodity supply and could bring inflationary shocks to the global economy. On Wednesday, U.S. President Trump said he would only consider stopping strikes on Iran if the Strait of Hormuz reopens, adding more uncertainty to how long the war will last.

On Wednesday, aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange closed up 1.9%, at $3,531.50 per ton; copper closed up 0.8%, at $12,434.50 per ton. Other major industrial metals also rose across the board.