State-run miner National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) on Friday said aluminium prices are driven by reopening of economy and strong demand.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sridhar Patra, chairman and managing director, said, "If the second wave of COVID comes, there must be inventory and with an anticipation as preservation of stock for interrupted production the market is likely to be favourable."

According to him, aluminium prices are likely to hover between $2,000-2,200 per tonne. NALCO's aluminium business reported profit in Q2 and the numbers are expected to improve hereon.

"In Q1, there was a COVID restrictions in deployment of manpower and logistic constraints, which restricted the production. NALCO is operating beyond 100 percent and we are hopeful that we will achieve more than 95 percent of previous year production target," Patra said.

For entire interview, watch video

(Edited by : Jomy Jos Pullokaran)