FACTBOX-Top producers of aluminium and alumina

Jul 11 - Canada's Alcan Inc has begun negotiating a $34 billion friendly offer from Rio Tinto Plc to fend off a hostile $28.6 billion bid from U.S. rival Alcoa Inc. , newspapers said on Wednesday. Alcan confimed it has signed confidentiality and standstill agreements with third parties as it seeks alternatives to Alcoa's bid. But it declined to name the third parties, or say to whom it was talking. A merger with Rio Tinto would create the world's top producer of aluminium, leapfrogging both Alcoa and new No. 1 United Company RUSAL, according to consultants Brook Hunt. In alumina, a combined Alcan-Rio Tinto would stay fourth but bring it much closer to Alcoa's 60 percent-owned AWAC, China's Chalco and Russia's UC RUSAL. Rio Tinto does not rank in the top 10 producers. Brook Hunt expects the company to produce 864,000 tonnes of primary aluminium and 2.9 million tonnes of alumina in 2007. On Monday the UK newspaper the Times said BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc was in talks with private equity firms to team up for a possible $40 billion bid for Alcoa. Last month, sources familiar with the matter said BHP had appointed investment bank Merrill Lynch to work on a possible bid for Alcan. Should Alcoa ultimately win Alcan, it would firmly establish the new company as the world's top producer of both aluminium and alumina. Below are listed the top producers last year and their new positions this year, according to consultants CRU. Aluminium output (million tonnes) 2006 2007 UC RUSAL - 4.260 Alcoa 3.581 3.873 Alcan 3.296 3.315 RusAl* 2.835 - Chalco 1.810 2.425 Hydro 1.798 1.705 BHP Billiton 1.406 1.411 SUAL* 1.048 - Alumina (million tonnes) 2006 2007 AWAC** 14.027 14.193 UC RUSAL - 10.447 Chalco 9.488 10.038 Alcan 5.713 6.652 Glencore* 4.418 - BHP Billiton 4.294 4.475 RusAl* 3.047 - SUAL* 2.231 - CVRD 2.220 2.480 Hydro 1.877 2.057 Other Alcoa 0.852 0.866 *RusAl, SUAL and Glencore now merged as United Company RUSAL. **Alcoa owns a 60 percent stake in AWAC. In its 2006 results Alcoa reported alumina output of 15.128 million tonnes. CRU figures differ to avoid double-counting of some production. Sources: CRU Analysis, Brook Hunt