Qatar's joint-venture aluminium smelter plant Qatalum achieved its full production capacity of 585,000 tonnes in September, the company said in a statement on Saturday.

"We are excited to be entering this new phase at Qatalum, moving from the ramp-up phase to full production. It has been a challenging goal that both owners have been striving towards," Qatalum CEO Tom Petter Johansen said.

"We've experienced setbacks, but these have contributed in creating the current strong team that, together, will bring operational excellence to the forefront."

The Qatalum plant, a 50/50 joint venture of Norsk Hydro with Qatar Petroleum, was launched in 2009 with a design capacity of 585,000 tonnes of primary aluminium but has been hobbled by technical problems.

Qatalum's first phase production capacity of 585,000 metric tonnes per year from 704 cells will enable Qatar to contribute a significant portion towards the Gulf's aluminium production, Qatalum said.-Reuters