Vedanta reports record aluminium production in Q4 and FY 2018 driven by successful smelter ramp ups

Vedanta Resources reports record aluminium annual production at 1.7 million tonnes for the Full Year ended 31 March 2018.

Aluminium production for the fourth quarter FY2018 was at 477,000 tonnes, up 35% YoY and 7% QoQ. The growth was primarily driven by the ramp up at the Jharsuguda-II smelter. It followed the complete ramp up of the Balco II smelter in Q1 FY2018. The exit monthly run rate stood at c.2.0 million tonne. Stabilised aluminium production (i.e. production excluding trial run) was 468,000 tonnes in Q4 FY2018.

Ramp-up of line-1 and line-2 at Jharsuguda-II were completed in Q3 FY2018 and Q4 FY2017 respectively. At line-3, 220 pots are powered on and the full ramp-up was delayed due to infrastructure development works undertaken by the railway authorities for capacity enhancement. Line-3 is expected to be fully ramped-up by H1 FY2019. Line-4 or the final line is under evaluation for ramp up.

Domestic coal continues to be a key focus area for the management. Coal linkages materialization has improved quarter on quarter. The company is in discussion with Coal India to improve materialisation further and e-auction coal availability.

 Vedanta achieved record aluminium production of 1.7 million tonne, 38% higher year on year on account of ramp up of additional pots at the Jharsuguda-II smelter and complete ramp up of BALCO-II smelter in Q1 FY2018.

Vedanta Limited announced a record interim dividend of c. $1.2 billion in March 2018, of which c. $600 million was received by Vedanta Resources Plc.