Aluminium majors hurt by spike in imports from US, China levies to blame

Primary aluminium producers fret as imports touch 60% of domestic consumption

The spate of imports of scraps and finished aluminium products has perpetually been a sore point with the primary producers- Vedanta, Hindalco Industries and National Aluminium Company (Nalco). But now, makers are rattled as the share of imports has touched 60 per cent of the domestic aluminium consumption in the April-June quarter of the current financial year, up from 54 per cent at the end of 2017-18.

Overall imports of aluminium rose 19 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter, driven by higher volumes of scrap precipitated by China’s imposition of import duty on US scrap. China’s protectionist levies have