Rusal’s aluminium sales increased by 0.8% QoQ in Q3 2019 and production rose by 0.4%

United Company Rusal has reportedly announced its third-quarter result, which reveals only a small quarterly rise in aluminium sales, pressured by a weak metal market.

Compared to the second quarter 2019, Rusal’s aluminium sales in the third quarter ended on September 30 increased by 0.8 per cent to amount to 1,091 thousand tonnes, while the production totalled at 942 thousand tonnes, up 0.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter. In Q2 2019, the sales were at 1,082 thousand tonnes and the production at 938 thousand tonnes.

Rusal’s total sales of aluminium in the first nine months of the year clocked at 3,069 thousand tonnes, up 9.8 per cent from 2,794 thousand tonnes in the same period last year. But the production in the nine months remained flat at 2,809 thousand tonnes, compared with 2,810 thousand tonnes in the corresponding period of 2018.

Production of aluminium foil and packaging products in Q3 2019 came in at 25 thousand tonnes, bringing the total output in the first nine months to 73 thousand tonnes, up 5.1 per cent from 70 thousand tonnes in the same period last year.

At the same time, rest of the world aluminium production grew during nine months of 2019 by 1.3 per cent to 20.9 million tonnes and this negatively impacted premiums, the LME price and inventory buildup.

Rusal's VAP sales (including total aluminium sales) in Q3 2019 totalled at 430 thousand tonnes, in comparison to 414 thousand tonnes in Q2 2019.

In the third-quarter report, Rusal also points out that the global primary aluminium demand decreased to almost zero growth in the nine months of 2019.