State-owned Dubai Aluminium Company's (Dubal) year-on-year sales volume for 2009 rose 8.7 per cent on higher demand in the Middle East, a company executive told Reuters on Thursday.

Even as demand in much of the world fell, Dubal benefited from increased consumption from neighbouring Abu Dhabi, Syria and Morocco, said Abdulwahid al-Marzouqui, Dubal sales manager for the Gulf, Iran and the Indian subcontinent.

Dubal saw market conditions in 2010 as similar to last year, Marzouqui said.

Dubal sold 1 million tonnes of aluminium in 2009 compared to 920,000 tonnes in the previous year, Marzouqui said. He declined to give the value of the sales.

'There was better demand in the Middle East region last year compared to 2008. Construction projects are still going ahead in Abu Dhabi, Syria and Morocco, that's why demand was stronger,' Marzouqui said.

In Dubai, billions of dollars of construction projects were put on hold during the global economic downturn, reducing demand for aluminium. But neighbouring Abu Dhabi has continued apace with development.

Abu Dhabi holds most of the UAE's oil reserves and pumps most of its oil, giving it a cash cushion to absorb the shock of the global economic slowdown.

Last month, Dubal said it had raised output of cast aluminium products to over 1 million tonnes in 2009, up 6.5 per cent on the previous year. It did not give sales figures when it announced output.-Reuters