Rusal- the leading global aluminum producer announced results for the full year ended 31 December, 2018.
According to company press release, the profits for the year surged higher by 39% over the prior year in 2018 to total $1.698 billion. The company’s profit in 2017 was $1.222 billion. Also, the revenue reported growth of 3.1% from $9,969 million in 2017 to $10,280 million in 2018. The higher revenue growth was mainly on account of the 7.2% jump in LME aluminum price during the year. The results from operating activities have decreased by 2.8% to $1,481 million in 2018, as compared with $1,523 million in the year before that. The total cost of sales increased by 3.7%, mainly due to higher alumina, transportation and raw material costs. Incidentally, the cost of alumina increased sharply by nearly 21% in 2018.
Commenting on the results, Evgenii Nikitin, CEO of RUSAL noted that the company was able to maintain its strong market position in 2018 despite several market challenges including the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions, ongoing trade wars and import duties. The aluminum production by the company reported marginal increase by 1.2% over 2017, Nikitin noted.
Rusal foresees global aluminum demand to rise by 3.7% year-on-year in 2019 to total 68 million tonnes. Further, it predicts challenges to Chinese aluminum exports during the current year. Meantime, the availability of aluminum scrap is expected to increase in 2019, mainly due to increasing price levels.
