NALCO to slash production as Alumina price fall

Bhubaneswar, Sept 29: A drastic fall in the price of Alumina in the international market, has forced the Public Sector National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) to go for a judicious production during the year.

The Alumina Refinery of the company has produced a record quantity of 15.90 lakh tonnes of Alumina in 2005-2006 compare to 15.75 lakh tonnes in the previous year.

But this year NALCO was seriously contemplating to reduce Alumina production compared to previous years as there has been a tremendous fall in the price of Alumina in the market.

NALCO CMD C R Pradhan told newsmen here yestreday that the price of Alumina per tonne has been reduced from 633 US Dollar to 282 US Dollar in the recent time.

He said last year ''we over produced Alumina keeping in view the high price of the commodity in the international market and avoided the maintenance schedule''.

This year judging the fall in the international price, the Company, he said would go for the maintenance schedule and try to keep the production to its annual capacity.

He, however, clarified that the over all production would not be reduced just because there has been a sharp decline in the price of the Alumina in the international market.

Mr Pradhan said the sale of the Alumina had not been affected much as every month the company was selling nearly 30,000 MT of Alumina in the market.

UNI