Utkal Alumina International, a fully-owned subsidiary of Hindalco, declared on July 4, that it would most likely finish its 500-kilotonne expansion over the next 30 months. This project involves a capital outlay of INR 1300 crore.
Hindalco managing director Satish Pai told, “Our Utkal plant remains the most efficient producer of alumina globally and continues to provide strong support to our upstream aluminium business. The Rs 1,300-crore capacity expansion by 500 kt has already begun and is expected to be over in the next 30 months."
Mr. Pai further said the company is completing the expansion plan fast thinking that the world-wide third-party alumina market would remain tight.
In the financial year 2018, the company had achieved record production of 1,291-kilotonne with alumina (including from Utkal) at 2,881-kilotonne.
Commenting on the expansion in the domestic market, Pai said, "We will wait for some more time because we still need to be little bit careful about coal availability and coal prices going forward,” adding that if more coal mines become productive and coal supply becomes adequate, the company would think of doing a brownfield expansion at Aditya or Mahan.
He also pointed out that aluminium imports in India have increased in double-digits in the past two months and is likely to increase as China may dump aluminium scraps to the country due to the recent import hike by the US. However, Hindalco, along with other Indian companies like Nalco, has already asked the government to check cheap imports from China.
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