Rusal produced 7.53 million mt of alumina in 2016, up 1.7% from 2015, helped by higher output at the revamped refineries in Urals and Bogoslovsk, Russia, and the Nikolaev unit in Ukraine.
Bauxite output totaled 12.19 million mt in 2016, up 0.6% on the year, the Russian producer said Thursday.
The year's aluminum production totaled 3.69 million mt, up 1.1% on the year. The company logged 3.82 million mt in aluminum sales volumes, up 4.9% over the same period. The increase was largely attributable to additional volumes from the Boguchansky smelter, Rusal said.
Value-added product sales grew 6.7% year-on-year to 1.68 million mt. The average realized price for value-added products was $1,732/mt, a drop of 13.4% on the year, due to lower LME aluminum prices and premiums over that period.
Global aluminum demand grew 5.5% year-on-year in 2016 to 59.7 million mt, with demand excluding China up 3.4% to 28.3 million mt and Chinese demand up 7.6% to 31.4 million mt, the company said.
Global aluminum supply rose 3.6% year-on-year to 59 million mt, Rusal said, pegging the supply deficit last year at 700,000 mt.
"Despite 4 million mt per annum of new Chinese capacity in 2016 and some restarted capacity it is expected that the Chinese market will develop into a moderate surplus and still be at a high risk of supply tightness due to the possibility of new environmental measures against pollution and a decline in new capacity additions," the company said.
"This would be similar to what we have witnessed and was implemented in the steel sector," Rusal said. "In 2017, the Chinese aluminium supply continues to be challenged by significant cost inflation, environmental regulation as well as the continuation of supply-side reform."
