All aluminium plants of UC Rusal are profitable

All companies in the aluminium industry found themselves in a difficult situation because of the fall of aluminium price. But UC Rusal conducted an efficient optimization of its assets and achieved profitability of all plants of the company. UC Rusal’s director for strategy, business development and financial markets Oleg Mukhamedshin told in interview to the Business FM, how the company managed to do it.

• Q.Last year, UC Rusal reduced the aluminum production by 8 % due to the closure of several plants. How justified  was this step?
• A.In full measure. Moreover, the measures taken to reduce the production at unprofitable plants, will bring a return this year too. We intend to reduce the production to 3.5 million tons. Just in terms of price, the current market conditions are still extremely unprofitable for aluminum producers. But despite this, now all aluminum plants of UC Rusal are profitable.
• Q.How many was UC Rusal able to reduce the cost of the production?
• A.As soon as the optimization program began, we reduced the average level of prime cost by $50 per ton. As far as the program is implemented, the rate will continue to improve.
• Q.UC Rusal has a program on the invitation of foreign investors to closed aluminium plants and their subsequent reequipment. How is this project developing?
• A.We introduced the program last autumn. Given the closure of several enterprise, we had free industrial sites in the European part of the country. Now we are looking for investors who would be interested in localization of production of aluminum-containing products at these sites. In return, we are ready to give our partners the opportunity to use the infrastructure, industrial sites and staff. We see a strong support at the level of local government and Vnesheconombank.
• Q.What other steps does UC Rusal take to improve the efficiency?
• A.The company constantly implements a program of improvements. This also applies to technologies and investment into environmental protection. Actually, such investments are not only costs, but also make a profit, in terms of efficiency. We reduce power consumption, decrease unnecessary operations. And we see if that this gives us the result.