Recycling key to sustain Non-Ferrous sector

Non-ferrous metals and minerals sector is facing a grim situation due to falling of stocks in China and economy meltdown in Greece. Amidst this scenario, the domestic market in India has turned fiercely competitive, Chairman and Managing Director, NALCO, NR Mohanty said.

Addressing the 19th International Conference on Non-Ferrous Minerals and Metals - 2015 held here on Friday, Mohanty said that creativity, re-engineering and innovation in the sector would help it withstand the situation.

Players in the non-ferrous market should focus on resource conservation, greener technology and effective and proper disposal of effluents. There is enough space in Indian market for co-existence and the companies can sustain profitably by knowledge sharing, he said.

“It is high time for aluminium companies in India to maximise production from scrap. Recycling scrap into aluminium saves 1.8 mega joules of energy compared to the energy consumption during extraction of the metal from ore,” Mohanty added.

Raising concerns on the global market for non-ferrous sector, Deputy Managing Director of Hindalco Satish Pai said, “With aluminium prices going as low as $1640 per tonne, the current situation can be rated as the biggest crisis in 10 years. Within six months, the metal’s price nosedived by over $600 per tonne,” he said.

“China, the largest producer and consumer of aluminium and its alloys, is facing a cut on its consumption and has started dumping its produce in the world market. This policy has snowballed into a global crisis,” Pai added. Hindalco has planned to cut down its production marginally to cope with the slide in global demand.

India is primarily an exporter of aluminium and other non-ferrous metals. However, high costs of logistics here has acted as an impediment in sustaining the slowdown, an industry expert opined.

Addressing the conference, director, sales and marketing, Rio Tinto Alcan, Bernard Allais said in order to deal with the slowdown, the non-ferrous sector should increase revenue as much as possible, reduce cost of production by implementing process control and optimise energy consumption.

“A corporate cannot isolate itself from the global scenario. Sustainability is the key which can be attained by focusing on innovation and green technology,” executive vice-president of Outotec, Stuart Sneyd said.

The conference was followed by a series of technical sessions where industry experts presented papers on new technologies for the non-ferrous sector.

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