Numaligarh Refinery Limited has initiated a Rs 700 crore wax project for production of paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax to meet the country's current shortfall in this sector. The Refinery would produce 43.3 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) of paraffin wax and 4.5 TMT of semi microcrystalline wax substituting the current imports to a large extent,a NRL release said. Board approval for the project has already been obtained and the next three and a half years would be the project execution period. According to independent financial consultants Price WaterHouse Coopers the viability of this project is fully established with a high intenral rate of return supported by favourable supply-demand scenario with demand of paraffin wax projected at around 230 TMT by 2011-12 against the domestic production of around 64 TMT. Domestic consumption of microcrystalline wax is expected to hover around 12.6 TMT by 2011-12 against which domestic production is around 0.9 TMT. Candles,pharmaceuticals,cosmetics,petroleum jelly and leather industries would be the downstream end user industries for wax,Price WaterHouse Coopers sources said.
