UPDATE: Russia’s RUSAL CEO sees low aluminum prices in years to come

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MOSCOW, Jan 20 (PRIME) -- Aluminum prices are likely to remain low in years to come, Russian aluminum giant RUSAL CEO Oleg Deripaska said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel on Wednesday.

“Not soon. The volume (of aluminum on the market) is very big,” he said when asked when aluminum prices will rise.

Prices for aluminum fell to record lows since the early 1990s and are unlikely to fall further, but the unfavorable situation on raw material markets may remain for a long time.

Deripaska believes that prices for raw materials, including oil, are unlikely to rise soon, but the Russian economy may be backed in 2016 by growing exports after the ruble devaluation.

RUSAL MAY CUT OUTPUT, RESTRUCTURE DEBT

RUSAL will decide in July–December whether to decrease its production by 200,000 tonnes, the CEO said.

“We are considering 200,000 tonnes. But at present, on the back of the current conditions we have enough consumers who want the metal, and we will unlikely fail to satisfy them, but we will make a decision taking into account results of the second quarter,” he said.

RUSAL may restructure its $1.3 billion debt, which it has to repay in 2016, Deripaska said.

“We have very flexible relations with banks, they understand the current situation. It was our plan (to decrease the debt), but we can renegotiate it,” he said.

In 2015, RUSAL already announced plans to cut output by 200,000 tonnes of aluminum in 2016. The measure is likely to cover the company’s plant in Kandalaksha in the Murmansk Region and a plant in Novokuznetsk in the Kemerovo Region.

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