Rusal Aluminum Production Rose Marginally by 0.6% in 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The leading global aluminum producer, United Company Rusal (UC RUSAL) has announced the operating results for the fourth quarter of 2017 and for the full year 2017.

Rusal’s aluminum production totaled 944,000 tonnes in Q4 2017, higher by 1.4% over the quarter prior to that. Siberian smelters accounted for nearly 94% of the total output during the quarter. The capacity utilization rate touched 97%. The production of value added products rose sharply bu over 9% to total 469,000 tonnes. In Q4, aluminum sales registered 3.3% jump over the quarter to total around 1 million tonnes. The sales of value added products dropped by nearly 3.4% to 462,000 tonnes. The average aluminum realized price increased sharply by 6.5% over Q3 last year to $2,263 per tonne.

For the full year 2017, Rusal’s aluminum production totaled 3.707 million tonnes, marginally higher by 0.6% when compared with 2016. The aluminum sales during the year were up by nearly 4% at 3.955 million tonnes, mainly on the back of notable jump in sales of third party aluminum products. The sales of value added products increased by11.4% year-on-year to 1.869 million tonnes. The share of value added products in total sales increased from 44% in 2016 to 47% in 2017. Also, the aluminum realized prices averaged at $2,105 per tonne during the entire year 2017.

During the last quarter of 2017, Rusal’s alumina production increased marginally by 1.3% to total 1.99 million tonnes. Russian operations accounted for nearly 36% of the total output. The full year production totaled 7.773 million tonnes, higher by 3.3% when compared with 2016. Meantime, the bauxite production during Q4 ’17 witnessed a jump of over 7% over the previous quarter to total 2.945 million tonnes. However, the yearly bauxite output has sdropped by 4.4% to total 11.645 million tonnes.

It must be noted that the LME aluminum prices had witnessed a strong rally, surging higher by 30.8% during 2017.