UC RUSAL aluminum products registered at SHFE

UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486, Euronext: RUSAL/RUAL, MICEX: RUALR, RTS: RUAL), world’s largest aluminum producer, announced the Shanghai Futures Exchange registration of RUSAL’s IRKAZ SUAL and RUSAL KH brands produced at the Irkutsk and Khakas aluminum smelters. The aluminum products are now deliverable against the SHFE Aluminum Contract.

The registration at the SHFE represents a significant step in the Company’s strategy to secure its long term presence in the Asian, and in particular, the Chinese market. The aluminum products registered at the SHFE are produced at the smelters in Siberia in direct proximity to China, the world’s biggest aluminum consumer with a 40% share in global aluminum consumption. Presently RUSAL produces 3.5 million tons of aluminum per year at its smelters in Siberia, and forecast to grow to over 4.8 million tons with the commissioning of the Boguchansky and Taishet smelters. Over 90% of this capacity is low carbon footprint hydro powered and ideally located to support China’s growing aluminum consumption which is expected to reach 30 million tons by 2015 from 19 million tons this year.

Vladislav Soloviev, UC RUSAL’s First Deputy CEO, commented: “The registration of two RUSAL brands at the Shanghai Futures Exchange represents a good opportunity for a more efficient promotion of our products in China. Growing urbanization and industrial development will continue to drive China’s dominant role in the global aluminum consumption, and RUSAL, as the world’s largest producer of the light metal, is ready to meet this demand.”

The SHFE registration is a rigorous process requiring brands to reach exacting standards in chemical composition, shape and packaging. A producer must be audited to check standards and to ensure the management systems are in place that ensures sustainable supply. RUSAL is only the second foreign company to obtain SHFE Aluminum Contract registration.