Vedanta to up aluminium output to 900,000 tonnes

Vedanta Resources, the country's largest producer of copper and zinc, will boost annual production of aluminum to 900,000 metric tonnes in 2009 to capitalise on the higher prices and improving local demand.

A 500,000-tonne smelter at Jharsuguda in India and expansions to existing capacity will allow the company to increase output, Gunjan Gupta, vice president of sales and marketing, said today at an industry conference in Bahrain.

"India will be among the fastest growing consumers of aluminum in the world given the country's economic growth and its low usage rates per capita,'' Gupta said at the conference organised by London-based consulting company CRU.

Aluminum demand growth will be strong enough in India to absorb an expected 50 per cent increase in production in Asia by 2009, Gupta said.

The amount of surplus production will shrink in 2009 as usage in the aerospace, automotive and manufacturing industries picks up, he said.

The Jharsuguba smelter will be commissioned next year with the first phase of production to begin by early 2009 and full output by early 2010, Gupta said.

London-based Vedanta is bidding against Hindalco Industries and Swiss commodity trader Glencore International AG for a stake in Aluminij dd Mostar, the largest aluminum smelter in the Balkans that's worth at least ¤76.8 million ($104 million).