Mounting input costs rattle aluminium producers Vedanta, Hindalco, Nalco

A sharp increase in input costs has eroded gains from buoyant prices on LME

For the country’s top three aluminium producers – Vedanta, Hindalco Industries and National Aluminium Company (Nalco), the challenge to contain the cost of metal production seems to have become more formidable now.

The spiralling prices of key ingredients in aluminium making – from alumina to coal, coal tar pitch and caustic soda – has rattled the companies. At the end of December 2017, the soaring prices of these key inputs had a total impact of $744 per tonne (year-on-year) on the aluminium production cost. This has negated the gains from aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) strengthening from