Alro continues the USD 61 mln investment programme

Alro, one of Europe’s largest vertically integrated aluminium producers by capacity, continues its USD 61 million investment programme for 2018, focusing on extending the client portfolio, enhancing the quality of hot rolled products and reducing energy dependency.

”We continue to implement our complex investment strategy, which covers three major areas: products quality and production mix with a focus on sophisticated markets, operational efficiency and cost control, as well as increasing the market share”, said Marian Nastase, chairman of the Board of Directors of Alro.

In the processed aluminium segment, Alro is modernizing the cold rolling mill number 2, and the grinding machine, in order to increase the production of flat rolled aluminium products to 120,000 tonnes per year by 2022 (from 90,000 tonnes per year at the end of 2017) and to increase the heat-treated plates production share, in line with the market demand.

At the same time, the company intends to implement a profile control system for hot rolled products, with the main objective to improve the sir quality. Moreover, in order to increase competitiveness, the company focuses on optimizing the delivery terms for the hot-rolled products (good, on-time delivery without backlogs) and on monitoring and controlling the entire production planning system in a centralized manner by implementing a production planning system (Planning Tool) for the Processed Aluminium Division.

In terms of cost efficiency, Alro aims at developing the Eco Recycling programme, by optimizing and increasing the scrap processing capacity through the implementation of a scrap processing line from shredding up to melting, with the purpose of reaching a capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year by 2020 (from 32,000 tonnes per year at the end of 2017), and increasing the energy efficiency of the existing processes.

Alro Group registered a net profit of RON 154 million in H1 2018, down from a net profit of RON 187 million, in H1 2017. The Group’s turnover increased in H1 2018 to RON 1.56 billion, compared RON 1.38 billion, in H1 2017. The primary aluminium production reached 144,962 tonnes, in H1 2018, from 139,459 tonnes in H1 2017, while processed aluminium production stood at 56,000 tonnes.