
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, announced its results for the three and six months ended 30 June 2018. Rusal alumina production for the quarter and the first half of the year was stable. Alumina production for Q2 2018 stood at 1,924 million tonnes, almost flat YoY. The six months ended 30 June 2018 recorded alumina production of 3.816 million tonnes, comparing with 3.817 million tonnes for the six months ended 30 June 2017.
In May 2018 alumina production at Friguia refinery was restarted in Guinea at half the total capacity.
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Total sales volume for alumina stood at 953,000 tonnes for H1 2018 compared to about 1 million tonne in H1 2017. The revenue stood at US$ 447 million in comparison to US$ 364 million in H1 2017. The increase in revenue despite lower volume was primarily driven by higher alumina prices. The average sales price of alumina stood at US$ 469 per tonne in H1 2018 compared to US$ 355 per tonne in H1 2017. The average sales price increased by 32.1%, partially offset by a drop in the sales volumes by 6.9%.
Bauxite production increased by 5.4% to 6.3 million tonnes for the six months ended 30 June 2018 from 5.9 million tonnes for the six months ended 30 June 2017. Increased bauxite production was driven by Compagne Buaxites de Kindia restoring the production level to 1.73 million tonnes following the upgrade of the carriage rolling stock and Bauxite Company of Guyana boosting production by 96 thousand tonnes and restarting of bauxite capacity at Friguia refinery complex in April 2018.
The report says trade wars and import duties, together with sanctions against Rusal, have caused significant growth of premiums and prices of alumina and aluminium raising total costs incurred by aluminium consumers. RUSAL supplies significant volumes of alumina to EU smelters and the OFAC Sanctions against RUSAL, coupled with Alunorte outage, caused a surge in alumina prices in April, pushing price level close to USD600/t.
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