SÃO PAULO — Venezuelan aluminum producer CVG Aluminio del Caroni SA (Alcasa) is installing machinery that will increase its primary aluminum output to 170,000 tonnes per year.

The new equipment will be incorporated progressively over the next two years, the first technological upgrade at Alcasa in 25 years. The arrival of the new machinery was celebrated at a ceremony at the end of January.

"From this 170,000 tonnes, we’ll be able to transform 152,000 (tonnes) into semifinished and finished products," Alcasa president Ángel Marcano told Venezuelan newspaper El Universal.

A new extrusion plant is set to open Feb. 22.

A version of this article was first published by AMM sister publication Metal Bulletin.