Aluminium Catching The Fancy Of Certain User Industries

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Mumbai, March 5: : With all eyes on the king metal — steel and its movements, another metal is quietly making its presence felt in not only the appliances and white goods market but also in the auto market.

Aluminium is poised to be the next most versatile metal after steel and, according to industry officials, with the present volatility of hot rolled (HR) coil prices, user industries like white goods, appliances and the auto companies might soon begin to substitute the use of steel with aluminium where ever they can.

Sterlite Industries Ltd chief executive officer KK Kaura said that aluminium has been doing very well in the market over the last few months and its demand has been increasing over time.

“Aluminium is very versatile and can be used for a variety of applications,” Mr Kaura added.

A Tata Steel official said that though there has not been a significant use of the metal over steel in the auto segment, aluminium was versatile enough and could be used in the near future. He, however, clarified that in certain applications steel could not be substituted with anything else.

A Jindal Iron and Steel Company Ltd official, however, warned that there was a danger of aluminium eating into the steel market share with more and more applications using the metal over steel. He added that with the volatility of prices soaring, shortage of raw materials and rising input costs might begin to make the metal unattractive for sections of the user industry.

Domestic prices for aluminium, which are roughly around Rs 90,000-92,000 per tonne, have more-or-less remained stable. Whereas, HR steel prices between Rs 24,000-Rs 26,000 per tonne have seen a lot of volatility.