Rusal says aluminium output down 11 percent in 2009

MOSCOW — Russian metals giant Rusal cut its annual aluminium output by 11 percent in 2009 but could increase it this year, the company said in its full year production results Monday.

The world's largest aluminium producer reduced its total aluminium output to 3.9 million tonnes, compared to 4.4 million tonnes in 2008, the company said, calling 2009 "one of the toughest years on record for the global economy."

In the same period, the company slashed its alumina production by 36 percent and bauxite production by 41 percent.

The company predicted an upturn in 2010, saying in a statement that if demand grows as forecast, it plans to produce three percent more aluminium and seven percent more alumina than in 2009.

The company plans to increase aluminium production at its plants in Siberia, Nigeria and Sweden, it said.

Experts forecast a 12.6 percent growth in demand for aluminium in 2010 compared to 2009, "driven primarily by continuing economic growth in China and India," the company said.

"We are seeing the first signs of a recovery in demand," Rusal chief executive Oleg Deripaska said in the statement, adding that the company is receiving "increasing orders" from clients in Europe and the United States.

"We believe that the stabilisation that is now being seen will lead to consumption growth exceeding the pace of production increases," Deripaska said.

The economic crisis has left Rusal billions of dollars in debt, which the company has been in complex talks with its creditor banks to restructure.

The heavily-indebted company, whose majority shareholder is Deripaska, last month listed on the Hong Kong and Paris bourses. It was the first Russian company to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Earlier this month Rusal announced that it had paid Russian and international creditors 2.14 billion dollars from the proceeds of its share listings on the Hong Kong and Paris stock exchanges.