Russian aluminium exports slump in July

Russian exports of aluminium totalled 2,276,700t in the first seven months of this year, according to the latest figures released from the country's customs department. The way these figures are reported is by cumulative total rather than month-on-month but the implication of the latest data is that monthly exports slumped in July to an extremely low 104,700t. That's caused the overall year-on-year trend to change. Exports for the first seven months of this year were down by 7.4% on the same period of 2006 after being modestly higher in the previous two months. Unfortunately, there is a lack of breakdown or detail in the Russian customs figures, preventing any further interpretation of the data other than that it may have been a monthly blip.