Rusal announces its Q4 and full-year results of 2019: Both bauxite and alumina production record growth

United Company Rusal has announced its fourth-quarter and full-year results of 2019 ending December 31, revealing that its bauxite production in the fourth quarter stood at 4.026 million tonnes, up 2 per cent from 3.948 million tonnes in the third quarter. In the full year, the company’s bauxite output came in at 16.047 million tonnes, 15.9 per cent higher than 13.847 million tonnes in the previous year.

Production of alumina by Rusal grew as well, both in the fourth quarter as well as the full year. Rusal in Q4 2019 produced 2.050 million tonnes of alumina, up 4.7 per cent from 1.957 million tonnes in Q3. In the whole year, their total alumina production came in at 7.858 million tonnes, 1.1 per cent higher than 7.774 million tonnes in 2018.

 Rusal’s third-party bauxite sales in Q4 were 50,000 tonnes, up 58.2 per cent from 32,000 tonnes quarter-on-quarter, while in the whole year were 148,000 tonnes, down 25.2 per cent from 198,000 tonnes year-on-year.

The company’s full-year third-party alumina sales also dropped over the year from 1.930 million tonnes in 2018 to 1.753 million tonnes. This marks a decline of 9.2 per cent. Quarterly sales hiked by 13.8 per cent from 450,000 tonnes in Q3 to 512,000 tonnes in Q4.

External purchases of bauxite in Q4 surged 7.3 per cent from 1.483 million tonnes in Q3 to 1.590 million tonnes. For the whole year, however, they dropped by 6.1 per cent from 6.550 million tonnes to 6.150 million tonnes.

External purchases of alumina, on the other hand, recorded just the opposite trend. They dropped in the fourth quarter by 38.5 per cent from 571,000 tonnes in Q3 to 351,000 tonnes but increased in the entire year by 3.8 per cent from 1.708 million tonnes in 2018 to 1.772 million tonnes.