Aluminum to Recover to $2,400 a Ton By Year-End, Deripaska Says

TOKYO, June 30 -- United Co. Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer, said prices of the metal will recover to $2,400 a metric ton by the end of the year.

Aluminum demand remains healthy even with the debt crisis in Europe, Chief Executive Officer Oleg Deripaska told reporters in Tokyo today. The company won't change its production plan of 4.1 million tons this year, he said. Rusal has the capacity to produce 4.6 million tons of aluminum annually.

Aluminum prices in London have declined 10 percent this year on concern the European debt crisis and China's measures to curb its property market will hurt demand and derail the global economic recovery. Prices in China, the largest consumer of the metal, have dropped below the cost of production, Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. said June 8.

Aluminum for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange dropped 2 percent to $1,988.25 a ton at 5:36 p.m. Tokyo time. Prices closed at $1,867.50 a ton on June 7, the lowest level in eight months. The price reached an 18-month high on April 16. Rusal said in April it expects aluminum to average more than $2,000 a ton during 2010.