
Rio Tinto’s aluminium production for the fourth quarter of 2018 stood at 874,000 tonnes, one per cent lower compared with the corresponding period of 2017.
Aluminium production in 2018 was three per cent lower than 2017. Rio Tinto produced 3.5 million tonnes of aluminium. The decline in production was due to an ongoing lock-out at the non-managed Becancour smelter, which began on 11 January 2018, and a power interruption at Dunkerque Aluminium in the first quarter.
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The company completed the sale of its aluminium smelter at Dunkerque, France, to Liberty House for $0.4 billion on 14 December 2018. Production of 0.2 million tonnes is reflected up until this date.
In 2018, average realised aluminium prices were $2,470 per tonne (2017: $2,231 per tonne). This includes premiums for value-added products (VAP), which represented 57 per cent of primary metal sold in 2018 (2017: 57 per cent) and generated attractive product premiums averaging $224 per tonne of VAP sold (2017: $221 per tonne) on top of the physical market premiums. The mid-west premium increased from $199 per tonne in 2017 to $419 per tonne in 2018.
Rio Tinto’s expected share of aluminium production in 2019 is between 3.2 and 3.4 million tonnes.
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