India's NALCO sees aluminium prices rising

* Aluminium prices set to reach $2,000/tonne by Dec * Rising prices set to boost operating margins KOLKATA, India, Aug 5 (Reuters) - India's state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO)expects aluminium prices to reach $2,000 a tonne by December on rising demand, boosting its operating margins, its chairman said on Wednesday. Aluminium prices, which fell by more than half to a low of around $1,300 a tonne earlier this year from a peak in 2008 as the economic slowdown cut into demand from auto and construction sector, is recovering helped by output cuts and reviving demand. "Already we are having an improving trend. Yesterday it touched $1,900 per tonne, so it should go up," NALCO's chairman, C.R. Pradhan, told Reuters. The rise in prices should also boost operating margins to between $500 and $600 a tonne by December from $100 a tonne in the first quarter, he said. By December, the firm's output will rise to 410,000 tonnes from 345,000 tonnes in the first quarter, he said. The company's wage bill is also set to rise by 5-7 percent after it increases wages by December, Pradhan said. Shares in the company, which the market values at $4.5 billion, has risen 71 percent so far in 2009, compared with a 65 percent rise in the benchmark index. NALCO shares ended 2 percent lower at 325.60 rupees in a Mumbai market that rose 0.5 percent. (Reporting by Niladri Bhattacharya; Editing by Himani Sarkar)