Bosnia's Aluminij signs five-year deal with Glencore - report

The cooperation between Aluminij and Glencore is significant for both companies since their partnership goes back long before last year's suspension of Aluminij's operations, news wire Indikator.ba on Monday quoted Aluminij Industries officials as saying.

They did not provide details about the financial aspects of the deal or the agreed volume of aluminium billets.

Ailing Aluminij restarted production last month, following a 15-month pause, thanks to an agreement with an Israeli-Chinese tie-up.

Aluminij Industries d.o.o. is the newly established Bosnian subsidiary of Israel's M.T. Abraham Group and its partners, China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. (NFC).

In April, Aluminij Industries signed an agreement with Mostar-based Aluminij for a long-term lease of its production assets, opening the way for its recent production restart.

"We worked hard in the past months. First, we employed a large number of workers within a short period, restarted production, went through a certification process, signed two important contracts and will continue to do all to preserve the stability of the company," the head of M.T. Abraham Group, Amir Gross Kabiri, was quoted as saying by Indikator.ba.

The official start of production at Aluminij's foundry plant, which was the first unit to go back online, took place in the beginning of November, with M.T. Abraham Group employing some 130 of Aluminij's former workers, the report said.

The new employer plans to raise the number of workers at Aluminij to 170 by the end of the year.

In October, Aluminij Industries signed a strategic partnership deal with Dubai-based global commodity trading group Advaita, which agreed to buy half of Aluminij's output in the next ten years.

Aluminij halted operations in July 2019 after its power supply was cut off due to swelling unpaid bills. Following the shutdown, Bosnia's Federation government decided that Aluminij should continue to operate and come up with a rescue plan by the end of 2019.

The Federation government controls 44% of Aluminij, followed by the government of neighbouring Croatia with 12%, with the remainder owned by smaller shareholders. The Federation is one of two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic.