Rusal aluminum sales up 6.8% in the first quarter

Russian aluminum giant Rusal said Monday that first-quarter aluminum sales were up 6.8 quarter-on-quarter to 985,000 tonnes.

Hong Kong-based Rusal, the second largest aluminum producer in the world after Hongqiao in China, has remained stable in recent years after cutting capacity after falling prices for aluminum, widely used in the industry.

The average realized aluminum price rose 8.3 percent to $ 1,949 a tonne due to higher prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Rusal noted that aluminum production in the first quarter fell by 2.1% compared to the previous quarter and amounted to 910 thousand tons due to fewer calendar days in this period.

Earlier, the company, owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, announced the preservation of production stability in 2017. Its shareholders are the trading giant Glencore, as well as Russian businessmen Viktor Vekselberg and Mikhail Prokhorov.