Bosnia’s Aluminij to raise output after import tax scrapped

SARAJEVO, Dec 29 (Reuters) – Bosnian aluminium smelter Aluminij Mostar said on Friday it expects to boost its annual output by 15 percent to 184,000 tonnes of metal and raise exports by $55 million after the government scrapped import taxes on unalloyed aluminium in 2018. Aluminij, which is among Bosnia’s top exporters, has narrowly avoided closure several times due to debt owed to power utilities and suppliers that reached 250 million Bosnian marka ($152.6 million). It recorded a loss of more than 43.5 million marka in 2016. The smelter, based in the southern town of Mostar, produces 130,000 tonnes of primary aluminium annually and  0,000 tonnes of alloyed ingots. After the Bosnian government decided last week to scrap an import tax on unalloyed aluminium, Aluminij expects to smelt an additional 24,000 tonnes of metal in 2018, it said in a statement. The company managed to achieve positive results in the first half of 2017 but is set to record an annual loss due to metal price fluctuations and the high price of electricity, General Manager Mario Gadzic told Reuters this week, without providing detail. The company, which with a 900-strong workforce is a major employer in the Mostar region, has been undergoing restructuring after failed efforts by the regional government to privatise it. The government of Bosnia’s autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation owns a 44 percent stake, small shareholders own another 44 percent and the Croatian government holds 12 percent.