Rusal targets China for exports

RUSSIA'S United Co Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer, expects to export aluminum to China starting 2009, a company official said yesterday.

Annual exports to China may be 200,000 tons to 300,000 tons at the start, Peter Finnimore, Rusal's aluminum sales director, told reporters in Shanghai.

The main hurdle for exports to China is the lower prices, he said. Aluminum contracts on the London Metal Exchange are trading at premiums over those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

Moscow-based Rusal sells 23 percent of its products to Asia, the bulk of which is to Japan and South Korea. Finnimore said they plan to raise the Asian portion to 30 percent in coming years, and China will be part of the growth.

China will account for 36 percent of global aluminum consumption by 2010, up from 25 percent, according to Rusal estimates. Aluminum can be used in beverage cans and airplanes.

China's aluminum production could reach 12 million tons this year, or a third of the world's total. Last year China produced 9.3 million tons.

In the long run, Finnimore said Rusal is "perfectly positioned to supply China" as its major smelters and other new projects are located in south and east Siberia which allows them to reach China through the Far East ports and cross-broader railroad lines.