Hindalco's Rs 1,300 cr Utkal expansion to be completed in 30 months

Utkal Alumina International, a fully-owned subsidiary of Hindalco, today said it will complete the 500-kilotonne expansion, involving a capital outlay of Rs 1,300 crore, over the next 30 months.

"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 began and is expected to be over in the next 30 months," Hindalco managing director Satish Pai told reporters here this evening.

He further said the company is completing the expansion plan fast as it thinks the worldwide third-party alumina market will remain tight.

In FY2018, the company had achieved record production at 1,291-kt with alumina (including from Utkal) at 2,881 kt.

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.

"If more coal mines become productive, and supply becomes adequate, we will certainly think of doing a brownfield expansion at Aditya or Mahan."

Arguing that recent import duty hike by the US may see huge amounts of Chinese aluminium scraps being dumped to the country, he said Hindalco has asked the government to curb cheap imports.

Pai said during the past two months, aluminium imports have increased in double-digits.

The Aluminium Industry Association has already approached government to avert a steel-industry like situation, when supply from China threatened the viability of local manufacturing a few years ago, he said.

Intense lobbying by steel companies prompted government to resort to several measures ranging from higher duties to import price controls to curb imports last year, he pointed out.