May 26 (Bloomberg) -- United Co. Rusal, the world's largest maker of aluminum, expects sales in Russia and the CIS to reach almost 1 million metric tons next year, double the amount sold last year.
Sales may climb to about 725,000 tons this year in Russia and the CIS, a group of former Soviet republics excluding the Baltics, as their customers bring spare processing capacity online to meet a recovery in demand, said Sergei Belsky, Rusal's sales chief, at a conference in Moscow today.
In Russia, Rusal's home market, sales are likely to rise 37 percent this year and 39 percent next year, Belsky said. A decline in aluminum traded on the London Metal Exchange this month will probably translate into a price cut of $280 to $300 a ton in Russia from next month, he said.
Aluminum in London has dropped 9.1 percent, or $205 a ton, in May on investor concerns over a sustained global recovery and debts of Europe's peripheral states, including Greece. The metal rose 1.5 percent to $2,048 a ton today.
Rising imports of semi-finished products in Russia may hurt local demand from companies that process and shape Rusal's primary aluminum for use in the automotive industry and beverage containers, Belsky said.
Higher loan interest rates and a stronger ruble, as well as automakers sourcing more of their needs abroad, are encouraging the growth of imports, Belsky said. Imports of processed aluminum may account for 24 percent of Russia's demand this year compared with 18 percent in 2007, he said.
Rusal and its Russian consumers plan to lobby the government for protection of the domestic aluminum processing industry, he said.