Airbus will use aluminum provided by Romanian company Alro to manufacture its aircraft starting 2017.

Alro, a subsidiary of international group Vimetco, announced on Friday that it had been selected as an aluminum provider by Airbus. The agreement is valid for several years and will start next year.

“We are looking forward to starting this partnership with Airbus and supplying best quality aluminum plates for the aerospace industry,” said Gheorghe Dobra, Alro CEO.

The Romanian company will provide Aluminium Flat Rolled Products for aircraft manufacturing.

Alro holds the NADCAP (National Aerospace and Defence Contractor Accreditation Programme) performance certification for conformity with aerospace industry requirements. The certificate was awarded by the NADCAP Management Council following the testing of aluminium alloys produced at Slatina for heat treatment, conductivity measurement, tensile testing, hardness, and metallography.

Alro registered a turnover of RON 1.1 billion (EUR 247 million) in the first half of 2016, slightly lower than the RON 1.2 billion reported in the same period the previous year. Its net profit dropped from RON 68 million in the first six months of 2015 to RON 39 million (EUR 8.7 million) in the same period this year.

“These results were mainly influenced by the level of aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange that stood in H1 2016 at an average of 1,544 USD/ton, compared to 1,783 USD/ton, in H1 2015,” reads the company’s statement.

However, the aluminum sales increased in volume. Alro sold a total of 79,533 tons of primary aluminum in the first six months of the year, up by almost 10,900 tons compared to the similar period of 2015. The processed aluminum sales reached almost 42,000 tons in the first six months of 2016, compared to 39,629 tons in H1 2015.

Alro continued its investment program in the first half of the year, focusing on increasing energy efficiency, competitiveness, and products quality. The company’s investment program for 2016 stands at USD 53 million.

Alro is the largest aluminum producer in Continental Europe (except for Russia and Scandinavia), with an installed production capacity of 265,000 tons per year. Its main markets are within the European Union (Germany, Hungary, Poland, Greece and Romania), but the company also exports to the U.S. and Asia.

Alro Group registered sales of RON 1.2 billion (EUR 269 million) in this period, slightly down year-on-year. The group also includes the Alum Tulcea alumina factory, which supplies Alro with raw materials, and aluminum processing plant Vimetco Extrusion.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com