India: demand to grow in 2010

India’s aluminium demand growth is expected to accelerate to 4-5% this year from 3% last year, helped by the power, automotive and construction sectors, an official at the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) said.

Aluminium consumption is likely to be more than 1.2Mt in 2009/10 (April-March), from last year’s 1.15Mt, said AK Sharma, chairman of the standing committee for non-ferrous minerals and industries at FIMI.

Indian demand increased at 8% in 2007/08 but then slowed in 2008/09. India produced 1.35Mt of aluminium in 2008/09, a small share of global production of 40.16Mt.

Nalco, India’s third-largest aluminium producer, is expanding the capacity of its smelter in Orissa to 460kt by December, although it would take a year for actual production to be increased to that level.

In 2009/10, the company is aiming for output of 435kt, a 20% jump from 361.2kt in 2008/09.