Moscow, May 23. Domestic companies producing value-added aluminium products are showing high potential. This statement was made by Yury Mishin, Head of International Activities at the Aluminium Association, during the 23rd Summit for the Russian and CIS Metals and Mining Industry 2018, organised by the Adam Smith Institute. In his speech, he noted that despite having a much lower per capita aluminium consumption compared to EU countries, Russia ranked first in the world in terms of aluminium consumption growth in general (+10%) and primary aluminium (+11) in particular in 2017.
The key drivers of the domestic aluminium processing industry are construction, automotive industry, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. Combined, these industries will account for around 80% of aluminium consumption growth in the near future. In the construction industry alone, aluminium companies that are members of the Association already sell over 20 product types, which, given the possible expansion of the renovation programme throughout the country, gives good reason to expect an additional increase in aluminium reprocessing in the domestic industry.
At the summit, the restrictions imposed by the U.S. Administration were also a subject of discussion. According to the Summit participants, the actions taken by U.S. authorities created a volatile and unpredictable situation in the market, raising uncertainty in the entire global industry. Currently, the U.S. demand for aluminium is around 5 mln tonnes, while the available production capacity does not exceed 2 mln tonnes. Previously, the aluminium deficit was compensated by importing products, in particular, made in Russia.
The event was attended by the representatives of the Far East Investment and Export Support Agency, Gazprombank, Eurasian Development Bank, Moscow Exchange, JFE STEEL, Eurasian Resources Group, NLMK, UGMK, Translom, Amur-Minerals, CRU, PWC, Primetals Technologies, etc.