Bosnia's sole alumina plant, Birac, returned to profit this year and increased output in the third quarter by more then a third from the same period last year, its top official said in an interview on Thursday. "We have invested enormous effort to consolidate the plant's operation, maintain production and preserve jobs, which helped us achieve positive business results," Birac General Manager Virginijus Vajega told Reuters in a written statement.
Birac, majority owned by Lithuania's Ukio Bank Investment Group, posted a net profit of 2.3 million Bosnian marka ($1.65 million) in the third quarter of 2010, compared with a loss of 6.8 million marka in the third quarter of 2009. The plant produced 264,501 tonnes of alumina in the same period, which paved the way for rising exports of 140 million marka, said Vajega. "We aim to continue with such output dynamics in the upcoming period."
Located in the eastern town of Zvornik, the plant has an installed capacity of 600,000 tonnes of alumina per year, but last year the global economic downturn, lower alumina prices and shrinking demand forced it to cut output by 21 percent. Since 2006, Birac has operated at only half of its capacity because of low prices and the high cost of electricity and gas needed for its operations.
"Our primary goal is to increase output this year to the level of maximum efficiency and to preserve operational stability through the rational use of resources and cost cuts to help ease the effects of the crisis," Vajega said. He said it was difficult to make any long-term forecast, "but we aim to finish the year with positive results". Bosnia's industrial output has been steadily rising this year, driven mainly by stronger activity in manufacturing industries and the energy sector. Analysts say it indicates that a negative trend from 2009, when the output of the key base metals sector fell by a quarter, is coming to an end.
News source: Balkans.com link: article
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