Bosnia’s Aluminij d.d. Mostar announced on Monday that it has petitioned the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton government to end the import tax on unalloyed aluminium in an effort at boosting the plant’s output and cutting production costs.
The firm said in a statement that an end to the import tax would melt 25,000 metric tons of unalloyed aluminium using fuel gas instead of electricity, which is more expensive. Such a situation would boost the smelter’s output by almost one third and add an additional US$50 million in exports.
“Currently, no one is importing unalloyed aluminium so funds are not being raised. If the state were to abolish its customs duty on this material, Aluminij could be the engine of economic development in Bosnia,” read the statement.
Aluminij d.d. Mostar is based in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian government owns a 44% stake in the company, the plant’s workers own 44%, and the Croatian government owns the remaining 12%. The firm recently inked an electricity supply contract with the state-owned Elektroprivreda BiH (EPBiH) to power the plant for the remainder of the year. It was previously powered by the privately-owned Bosnian firm Elektroprivreda HZHB, but became significantly indebted to the company.