SHANGHAI, May 20 (SMM) -
According to Russia customs data, Russia exported 2.938 million mt of primary aluminium throughout 2021. As a major exporter of primary aluminium, Russia exported to 59 countries and areas last year. It is mainly exported to European and Asian countries.
By the global area, Russia exported 1.584 million mt of primary aluminium to Europe (including Turkey) in 2021, accounting for 54.1% of total exports, ranking first, then followed by the Asian region with exports of 1.09 million mt, accounting for 37.2% and exports to North American countries of 242,000 mt, accounting for 8.3%.
By export countries and regions, the main export countries of Russian primary aluminum in 2021 were Turkey, Japan, China, the Netherlands, the United States and Norway, of which the total exports to Turkey stood at 651,000 mt, accounting for 22.2% of the total exports, ranking first. Exports to Japan totalled 406,000 mt, ranking second at 13.9% of exports. Exports to China totalled 384,000 mt, ranking third at 13.1% of exports.
Source: General Administration of Russia Customs
Russia's main primary aluminium producer is Rusal, which owns 11 aluminium smelters around the world, with a completed capacity of 4.205 million mt, of which 4.077 million mt is completed in Russia, while the remaining two aluminium plants are located in Sweden and Nigeria. It is reported that the ALSCON aluminium plant in Nigeria is 85% owned by Rusal, with a completed capacity of 193,000 mt. In March 2013, Rusal announced the decision to suspend the operation of the plant due to the failure to resolve the gas supply problem and the severe losses of the plant. According to Rusal's 2021 annual report data, Rusal's primary aluminium output in 2021 was 3.764 million mt, of which the output of aluminium plants in Russia was 3.506 million mt, accounting for 93.1% of the output. At the end of December 2021, Rusal launched the Taishet Aluminium Smelter (TaAZ) Phase I 428,000 mt of primary aluminium capacity project, and the current operating capacity of the enterprise grew to 4.205 million mt.
SMM comment: According to SMM research about the exports of Russian primary aluminium and output of Rusal in 2021, Russia plays an important role in the global market of aluminium. Most Rusal aluminium products use hydropower, which is in line with the global low-carbon aluminium demand, especially in the market of Europe and the United States where application rate of Russian low-carbon aluminium is high. In 2022, the Russian-Ukrainian conflicts escalated, which interfered with the global trade in aluminium ingots to a certain extent. Coupled with the production cuts of aluminium in Europe, the market was more concerned about supply shortage of overseas aluminium and LME aluminium continued to hit new highs. At the same time, domestic aluminium smelters accelerated to put capacity into production. The growth rate of aluminium prices was less than the overseas market in the first quarter and the import window of domestic aluminium ingot continued to close. But some domestic downstream enterprises cooperated with Rusal in long-term orders and settlement price was referred to the domestic aluminium prices. Therefore, there was still imports of 60,500 mt of Russian primary aluminium in Q1, down by 28.8% on the year. It is said that a large number of Russian aluminium ingot (100,000 mt) was in the domestic market. According to SMM research in main consumer areas, no traders and terminal enterprises have received the batch of aluminium ingot and a large number of Russian aluminium ingot was not seen in the market. SHFE/LME price ratio may hover in a low level in the short term and the imports of overseas aluminium ingot still suffered losses around 2,000 yuan/mt. The import window was not about to open in the short term. It has little possibility for a large number of low-priced Rusal products to sell in China, but the possibility does not rule out that Rusal products are imported to the domestic ports and then being transited or primary processing for export. SMM will focus on the future overseas market.
