Russian aluminium production growth starts accelerating in Jan

Russian production of primary aluminium was 322,676t in January, according to figures from local consultancy group Aluminiy.

That represented year-on-year growth of 2.3% from production of 315,547t in January 2006. The growth rate marks an acceleration from the 1.9% level seen in both November and December and we suspect we are now seeing the first signs of the impact on national production of RusAl’s new Khakaz smelter.

The 315,000tpy smelter is the first new plant built in Russia since Soviet times. The first line was due on stream in December and the second in January. The full ramp-up will be spread out over the course of this year with the fourth line due on stream only in November. RusAl has said it is targeting output of around 234,000t this year from Khakaz.

That should driver an acceleration in national production growth, which has up to now reflected capacity creep through technology upgrades at both RusAl and fellow Russian producer SUAL.