Aluminum smelters may cut 1M tonnes of capacity: Rusal

Sep 13, 2012 | 02:19 PM |

Tags  UC Rusal, aluminum, Steve Hodgson, loss-making capacity, production, China smelters

MOSCOW — Aluminum smelters are likely to curtail up to another 1 million tonnes of loss-making capacity before year-end, a senior executive at United Co. Rusal (UC Rusal) said Thursday.

Without naming specific operations, Steve Hodgson, the Moscow-based company’s director of international sales, noted that most of the industry’s at-risk capacity is in China and operates at a cash cost of $2,100 per tonne and higher.

With aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange mostly languishing below $2,000 per tonne since early May, smelters look set to continue to struggle. The spot aluminum contract moved back above that threshold on Sept. 10 for the first time since May 21, and ended the LME’s official session at $2,082 per tonne Thursday.....





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