Venezuelan aluminium reducer Alcasa posted a 4.6% drop in production in 2006 to 178,124t, down from 186,707t in 2005.

Alcasa also reached record metal purity of 99.1% on its production line 4 in January 2007, a quality not achieved since February 2000, the company said in a statement.

At production line 3, the company managed metal purity of 73%, while reaching 97.1% and 85.7% at lines 1 and 2 respectively, the report said.

Alcasa is located at Puerto Ordaz in eastern Venezuela. The company is 92% owned by state heavy industry holding CVG while the remaining 8% belongs to US company Alcoa (NYSE: AA).