Balco to resume aluminium rolled products business

Vedanta-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (Balco) would resume production in its sheet rolling shop (SRS) In a move that would facilitate the company's return to the aluminium rolled product business.

Production in the shop was suspended in September last year following crises in the backdrop of crash in global aluminium prices. The shop was running under heavy loss and the management decided to suspend production, that put Balco’s aluminium rolled products business under the scanner. The market was abuzz with reports that Balco had initiated the process of shutting down the business of aluminium rolled products.

The rolling mill, with an annual production capacity of 72,000 tonnes, was commissioned in 1981-82. The products rolled from the shop included hot-rolled coils, hot-rolled plates, chequered heat treated, baltread, ridge height (5bar), slabs, busbars, cold-rolled coils and strips cold rolled sheets.

After a high-level meeting that was chaired by Balco’ Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Nair, the company decided to resume the production in SRS, the company spokesperson told Business Standard.

After completing all the technical formalities, products from the SRS would start rolling out from July, the spokesperson said, adding that 300 workers sitting idle would get jobs.

The company would would gradually increase production to match demand. Balco would also plan strategy to make the SRS operation profitable.

Balco, which was incorporated in the year 1965 as a public sector undertaking, had been producing 300,000 tonnes of aluminium per year — about 15 per cent of the country’s total aluminium production.

The central government divested 51 per cent equity in the year 2001 in favour of Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources. The remaining 49 per cent is still held by the government.