Business Standard reported that state owned aluminium maker National Aluminium Co Ltd which cut up to 8%capacity last year,will shut more over the next fortnight.
Mr BL Bagra director finance of Nalco said that"We are looking to shut down three to four per cent capacity,as the prices of imported and e-auctioned coal are unviable."
Mr Bagra said that"This is the reason a lot of companies have partly shut down their capacities and so has Nalco.Last September(2011),we had shut 90 pots but restarted 30 pots by March.So,those 60 pots remain shut even today.In percentage terms,it's seven-eight per cent.We are considering putting some more pots out of service to make it 11 to 12%."
Mr Bagra said the company would continue production to the extent of coal available from Coal India and avoid using imported or e-auctioned coal.
He added that"So,the top line can increase without adding much to the profits."
He further added that"So,we have decided to continue production till coal from linkage is available and not with the help of the imported coal or the e-auctioned coal because the cost of power generation from these two sources comes to INR 5.5 per unit,which is unsustainable."
Aluminium requires huge quantities of power,generated by burning coal.Close to 12%of Nalco's coal requirement is met through imports and E auction and the rest is supplied by state run miner Coal India Ltd.
