Venezuela's Bauxilum alumina plant output falls 35% in January-November 2014

Venezuela's CVG Bauxilum alumina plant produced 604,930 mt of alumina through November 2014, down 35% from output of 931,128 mt in the same period of 2013, Bauxilum said Friday.

Final 2014 tallies were not immediately available.

This January-November figure represented 33% of installed capacity, and as recently as two months ago -- when two production lines were running -- the daily output was 1,700 mt/d, Jose Rivas, the executive vice president of the state company, said.

But as the lack of inputs became more pronounced, officials decided in late August to go with only one production line for the rest of the year, lowering the annual output to 850,000 mt. This is the average amount Bauxilum predicts it will produce in 2015, which is less than half installed capacity of 2 million mt/year, assuming it can count on only one production line, officials said.

Any investment money that arrived at the Puerto Ordaz plant in 2014 was mostly destined to pay back-owed employment benefits. In 2015, an expected tranche of at least $100 million will theoretically be used to modernize the plant, which has struggled since 2009.

As the primary unit in the CVG aluminum complex counted on to supply alumina to sister smelters CVG Venalum and Alcasa, it has been a priority to receive investment funding, an official said.

CVG Venalum, a 430,000 mt/year smelter, is still waiting for its first payment from a $498 million modernization contract signed in 2014 with China's Chalieco aluminum subsidiary under the $5 billion China-Venezuela Fund.

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