Roman Borisov is the Sales Director for Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) of Rusal with more than 15 years of commercial leadership experience in the aluminium industry. In his role, Roman is responsible for Value Added Product and Low Carbon Aluminium sales across the region, supporting key vertical markets including Automotive, Packaging, Construction and Energy Transition.   

AlCircle: How would you rate Rusal’s performance for 2021 and envision the year 2022?

Mr Roman Borisov: In general, 2021 was a very solid year for RUSAL. The Company showed resilience in withstanding the COVID-19 pandemic and various challenges particular to the aluminium industry. We supported our clients around the globe, providing flexibility and options required to absorb the supply chain disruptions, and provided assurances around Silicon and Magnesium availability despite global shortages. We grew our VAP share to 52% from 44% in 2020 and saw aluminium prices gaining momentum along with the rest of the commodities.

We finished the year on a high note, inaugurating the first Greenfield low-carbon aluminium smelter ex-China in 5 years. The launch of this brand new smelter is great support for the global aluminium industry, which is facing a growing structural deficit of primary aluminium. In the span of just 12 months, we have seen several primary capacity curtailment announcements in Europe due to rising energy costs (in 2021-2022 over 700 kt of capacity are announced for closure).

We entered 2022 with tremendous enthusiasm and excitement for the prospects for our industry and in particular, the role of the green energy transition in driving growth. As the largest low-carbon aluminium producer, our share in world primary LCA production now represents 20%. Compared to last year, in the first 3 months of 2022, we supplied double the volume of LCA metal on the back of post-COVID recovery and a surge in demand following the continuing closure of the EU smelting capacity.

AlCircle: How did the ongoing conflict in Ukraine affect RUSAL’s operations?

Mr Roman Borisov: Like many, we have been shocked and appalled by the events in Ukraine and we have publicly expressed our desire for an early end to the conflict. We are continuously working to manage our way through the challenges presented by the current situation in Ukraine. As a company, we have been affected by the suspension of operations at Nikolaev Alumina Refinery. We are supporting our colleagues there with food and other supplies and helping them evacuate to safe locations. Our teams have also successfully rearranged the Alumina streams to keep the smelting operations intact.  

After the outbreak of the conflict, we encountered numerous difficulties, which we are overcoming. One of the most important was the confusion around the scope of various sanctions and what is/isn’t permissible. We have strongly emphasized to our customers and business partners that RUSAL remains clear of sanctions in any form and can fulfil its commitments. Further clarifications from the European Commission have helped to stabilize on that front. At the same time, we have observed longer compliance checks from the banks as well as several institutions choosing to reduce exposure to financing commodities originating from Russia. Overall, we entered 2022 with a strong balance sheet and we have been largely able to overcome the challenges. We can say that, for the time being, problems with operations, supply chain of raw materials and products are resolved, allowing the company to execute all the contracts in full.

We are mindful of any decisions to boycott or restrict the supply of Russian aluminium, as supply chains are stretched to the extent that the market is extremely sensitive to any speculations. The guidance that local governments provide should be the key reference.    

Since we represent 13% of the ex-China supply, our goal is to remain a stabilizing factor for the global aluminium sector. We believe that our ability to fulfil long-term contracts is key to maintaining a stable and orderly market.

AlCircle: What is your current assessment of the European market and how are your relationships with European clients?

Mr Roman Borisov: Despite suggestions to the contrary, our relationship with clients have remained professional and largely supportive of our ongoing supplies. We value the support of our loyal client base we have established over the past 20 years. We were always proud to be at the forefront of building a new European aluminium value chain and understand our responsibility of remaining a reliable supplier of low-carbon aluminium to the European market.

We see various dynamics in terms of demand that will endure despite the present difficulties. Packaging, foil and cable sectors are perhaps amongst the strongest now. Building and construction markets have lost a bit of momentum and the automotive sector is still struggling to stabilize its supply chains for critical components. 

Demand in Europe for green metal is accelerating and we are well-positioned to meet this demand. The carbon footprint of RUSAL's products is already one of the lowest in the global aluminium industry and by choosing our ALLOW brand, customers can make active progress towards their net-zero goals. We support key European industries such as automotive, packaging industry and fillers, building and construction. RUSAL is among the top service providers in Europe. Regional buffer stocks, supply chain financing and credit facilities allow customers to maintain uninterrupted operations despite global logistics issues and growing working capital pressure on the back of commodity price spikes.

We plan on continuing our drive to zero-carbon aluminium by further developing our inert anode technology. We have already started test shipments of this carbon-free metal as part of various projects in Europe. This is an essential technology for a net-zero transition and we aim to deliver commercial capacity in the coming years. We have also launched pilot projects in recycling in Sweden and Germany that we plan to scale up in the near future.