Montenegrin company Uniprom will invest 26 million euros to overhaul and modernise the aluminium smelter KAP, according to the company’s owner Veselin Pejović.
Uniprom is readying to open an 11-million euro production unit for aluminium alloys in the coming months with an annual capacity of 30,000 tonnes. In addition, the company plans to invest 15 million euros to build a unit for making aluminium billets with an annual capacity of 70,000 tonnes by the end of this year. With a combined output of 100,000 tonnes by 2020, the KAP smelter will export products worth 266 million euros, according to the owners’ estimates.
During the visit to the KAP smelter, the Montenegrin Prime Minister Duško Marković congratulated the company on finalising aluminium production and mentioned that one more new facility to produce aluminium wire and steel wire is planned for the coming year.
Predsjednik Vlade Marković u posjeti Uniprom KAP-u: Investicije od oko 66 miliona velika šansa za Crnu Goru i njenu ekonomiju pic.twitter.com/0gXXPcjVj3
— Vlada Crne Gore (@VladaCG) March 22, 2019
In addition, Uniprom has installed an LNG facility at the KAP smelter to replace fuel oil, making KAP the only Balkan-based smelter using natural liquid gas. Before the transition, KAP required 10 tonnes of oil every day, explained the owner of Uniprom.
Uniprom acquired KAP from the Montenegrin government in 2014 for 28 million euros after the smelter entered bankruptcy proceedings with an accumulated debt of 383 million euros. Uniprom is an important provider of jobs and one of the largest national exporters of the small Balkan nation. Aluminium ore and raw aluminium are Montenegro’s top exports. The country’s aluminium is exported to cast houses in the region where it is remelted for the production of higher value products.