Indian aluminium sector grows following global cues

Indian aluminium industry is gaining strength in the past two weeks as the aluminium prices move forward and the international market is gaining ground, enough to make the Indian aluminium sector to start participating in the global aluminium market.

Breaking out of the dismal average price-per-ton of US $1,693 of February 2014 to its current above $2,000 figures on the LME, aluminium is looking up, and with a possible worldwide deficit in aluminium this year, the price would become dearer.

The Indian markets too are trying to keep up with the global market trends with spot and aluminium prices doing better in the last few days. The analysts in fact predict that the national aluminium capacity will rise from the 1.71 mt of 2012 to about 4.36 mt for the current fiscal year.

Now with the new government in place and more importance being placed on infrastructure, power and other sectors, the growth of the Indian aluminium sector could not have come at a better time. Industry giants like Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco are currently in an extensive R&D phase to come up with new uses for aluminium and increase India’s paltry per capita consumption of 1.3kg. Managing Director of Hindalco, Debu Bhattacharya, says that there are currently 30 product and applications in various stages of ideation and creation.