Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Industry and China's Jiangsu Surun High Carbon have inked a joint venture agreement to produce calcined petroleum coke in Zhenjiang, China, the companies said in a joint statement.

Mubadala is a business unit of Mubadala Development Co, an investment and development company owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, while Jiangsu Surun is a leading Chinese CPC producer and a subsidiary of the Zhenjiang Coking Gas Group.

The joint venture is expected to produce 500,000 mt/year of anode-grade CPC. Construction of the facility will start at the end of 2011, with first production slated for export by the end of 2012.

CPC is used in the production of anodes, which are fundamental components of aluminum smelting operations.

The partnership is expected to enable a strategic supply of upstream resources for the production of anodes in the United Arab Emirates, which is building a global metals platform, with about 1.8 million mt/year of primary aluminum produced through Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminum.

UAE's ambassador to China, Omar Al Bitar, said the agreement, Mubadala's first industrial venture in China, reflected the strengthening of the growing economic and strategic relationship between the two countries.

China is the largest producer of anode-grade coking products worldwide, with more than 40% of green petroleum coke production, the main substance used in CPC, and more than 50% of CPC production.

Commercial ties between the UAE and China have been strengthening in recent years, with the UAE becoming China's second-largest Middle Eastern trade partner in 2010.