RUSAL eyeing Russia to supply aluminium produced in long run

UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium producer, is eyeing the domestic market for supplying all the metal produced in the long run, Sales Director for Russia and CIS Roman Andryushin updated on Thursday, July 14.

RUSAL expects consumption of aluminium in Russia will grow from the present 1.4 million tonnes per annum to 2.5 million tonnes by 2024, said the manager.

The company plans to inject in $800 million initially to prepare the groundwork for the programme. The investments are to be made in a phased manner through 2021.

"Financial resources are needed to launch this program. We made an estimate; the first phase will cost about $800 mln. We mean lending resources. These resources are need for infrastructure and production capacities of our consumers. In other words, there are no Rusal’s investments because we are working and growing at the expense of in-house resources," Andryushin said.

"1,500 companies consuming our metal require investments. $800 mln are needed for 50-100 new production facilities to add 600,000 tonnes of aluminium. Financing problem should be resolved through government programs of the Russian Ministry of Trade. We are proactively working with the ministry on this issue," he said.

RUSAL is presently focusing on aluminium processing and end user industries to help boost aluminium consumption in Russia, Andryushin added.