The Hindu Business Line : Aluminium output seen at 8.3 lakh t

ALUMINIUM production is likely to touch 8.3 lakh tonnes during the current fiscal, much below the major producers' annual capacity of 9.09 lakh tonnes (lt), according to Dr S.K. Tamotia, President and Chief Executive Officer of Indian Aluminium Co Ltd (Indal).

The major producers are Hindalco, Nalco, Sterlite/Balco, Indal, and Malco.

"The domestic producers are planning to increase their capacities by about 4 lt in the course of next five years which marks an annual growth of 7.5 per cent," said Dr Tamotia here, speaking at ALCASTEK 2004, an international conference on aluminium industry.

"Out of this production, a little over 2 lt will be exported. The domestic consumption is estimated to touch 6.50 lt in 2003-04. We expect the domestic consumption to grow at 7 per cent per annum during the next five years. Thus, the total consumption would be around 9 lt in the year 2007-08," Dr Tamotia said. His projection, however, made without considering commissioning of any greenfield project during the period. If the project of Aditya Aluminium goes into stream by the year 2008, domestic capacity would go up further by 2.5 lt per annum, he said.

Thus, the country's total capacity would get enhanced to 15.6 lt per year.

"Indian aluminium industry is catching up in the growth race. Aluminium industry is now poised to achieve a sustained growth of around 7 per cent per annum, next to China (10 per cent per annum). We expect the world smelter capacity to grow by 5 per cent per annum. Against that, China is poised to enhance their capacity by 8.5 per cent annually and consumption is likely to grow by 10 per cent annually till 2008," he said.

In line with the growth of aluminium sector, alumina demand would also grow by 7-8 per cent annually. Hence, the present capacity is expected to go up by 7 million tonnes (mt) by 2008. Presently, India exports around 1.23 mt million tonnes of alumina. In the next five years, the export volume is expected to triple.