Nalco to Resume Full Output After Raising Coal Supply

June 23 (Bloomberg) -- National Aluminium Co., India's second-biggest aluminum producer, will resume full production from June 25 after a strike cut the supply of coal to its Orissa power station. Daily aluminum production dropped by 30 percent since June 20 after supplies from Coal India Ltd. to the 960-megawatt power plant were disrupted by a strike that began June 17, C.R. Pradhan, chairman of the Bhubaneswar-based company said today by phone. The strike is the second time in less than a year that Nalco, as the company is known, has been forced to lower power output because of disruption in coal supplies. Nalco, which produces 345,000 tons of aluminum and 1.6 million tons of alumina annually from its Orissa plant, is developing a coal mine with 2 million tons of reserves to secure supplies, Pradhan said. ``Securing coal supplies is imperative as dependence on external suppliers makes one very vulnerable,'' said Niraj Shah, an analyst at Centrum Broking Pvt. Nalco fell as much as 24.1 rupees, or 5.6 percent, to 406.05 rupees, in Mumbai trading. It traded at 410 rupees at 12:34 p.m. local time, extending its decline since June 13 to 16 percent. Striking truck drivers at a unit of Coal India halted shipment of the fuel from Talcher to Angul district, where Nalco's power plant is based. The strike ended June 22. ``The coal supply has been restored since yesterday but we will first build our reserves and then restore supply,'' he said. The company plans to build up reserves for two days production. Nalco needs 14,000 metric tons of coal daily to run its aluminum smelter and alumina refinery at full capacity, he said. Two tons of alumina is used to make a ton of the metal used to make parts in planes and cars. by Debarati Roy in Mumbai at droy5@bloomberg.net.