Rusal Plans to Mothball Some Russian Alumina Assets

According to Sina Finance, citing Kommersant and anonymous sources, Rusal has submitted an application to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin seeking temporary mothballing of part of its raw-material production capacity in Russia. The assets slated for mothballing include the Pikalevo alumina refinery, the North Ural bauxite mine, the Bogoslovsky alumina plant, and the Ural alumina plant. The company estimated that the raw-material processing business loses $400 per ton of aluminum and could cost it about $800 million a year. Rusal also estimated that restarting the segment would require $1.8 billion in investment. In addition, the company applied for railway freight subsidies and preferential port transshipment rates for imported bauxite, with annual related subsidies of about $70 million. Rusal also asked the government to support the affected regions if the plan goes ahead.