Epsilon Carbon, India’s largest coal tar pitch (CTP) manufacturer, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worth $20 million with Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) to explore a long-term supply partnership for liquid CTP. The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the Gateway Gulf 2025 event.

The agreement will strengthen Epsilon Carbon’s presence in the Middle East, where aluminium smelters between Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia collectively consume around 250,000 tonnes of CTP annually. The company aims to establish a dedicated pitch centre in Bahrain to cater to Alba and other GCC smelters.

Epsilon Carbon has manufacturing units in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, and is expanding its battery-materials operations across the USA, Finland and Germany. The company has announced investments of Rs 100 billion in Odisha and Rs 5 billion in Karnataka.

Coal tar pitch, a key derivative of coal processing, is used in the production of carbon anodes and cathodes for aluminium smelting and is also integral to electric-vehicle battery manufacturing.