Aluminium giant Rusal’s first-half profit jumps 42% on strong prices, deliveries

(Reuters) -Russian aluminium giant Rusal reported a 41.6% rise in its first-half adjusted net profit on Thursday, as it managed to increase production of aluminium, alumina and other products, with shipments to China touching record levels.

Rusal, which operates in Guinea, Jamaica, Ireland and Sweden apart from Russia, has been under pressure from the fallout of Western sanctions against Russia. While there are no sanctions on the company, some Western consumers are shunning new deals for Russia-made metal since Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

In April, the London Metal Exchange broadly banned Russian aluminium, copper and nickel produced from April 13 to comply with new U.S. and UK sanctions.

However, Rusal’s deliveries to China touched record high levels, while the Russian market reached its pre-Ukraine conflict volume, the aluminium giant said.

It produced 1.96 million metric tons of primary aluminium and around 3 million tons of alumina in the first half of 2024, both higher than the prior year. Price of aluminium ticked up to $2,360 per ton, while that of alumina rose 14% to $402 a ton.

Hong Kong-listed Rusal, the world’s largest aluminium producer outside China, posted adjusted net profit of $446 million for the six months ended June 30, compared with $315 million a year ago.

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar and Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Subhranshu Sahu and Rashmi Aich)