By Debarati Roy July 24 (Bloomberg) -- National Aluminium Co., India’s second-largest producer of the metal, raised the price 5 percent after aluminum gained on the London Metal Exchange. The price was increased by 5,000 rupees ($103) a metric ton starting July 22, Finance Director B.L. Bagra said today in an interview. The price outlook is positive and improving, he said. Aluminum prices jumped to the highest in almost nine months in Shanghai today after China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of the light metal, imported more than 1 million tons of refined aluminum in the first six months of this year. The quantity was 16 times higher than the same period a year ago, data from the Beijing-based customs office showed this week. Aluminum prices have gained more than 20 percent since June 1 on the LME. Prices for three-month delivery traded at $1,775 a metric ton at 5:45 a.m. in London. Metal for November delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 2.4 percent to 14,260 yuan ($2,087) a ton, the highest since Oct. 30. Orders for the metal are picking up in India after the government said it planned to spend 1.79 trillion rupees to build networks of roads, telephones, electricity and irrigation in the fiscal year ending March 31. National Aluminium shares, which gained almost 59 percent this year, traded at 300.45 rupees, up 1.7 percent, at 10:12 a.m. in Mumbai. To contact the reporter on this story: Debarati Roy in Mumbai at droy5@bloomberg.net

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