Rusal: more than half of all aluminum production in the world became unprofitable

Rusal estimates that at current premium aluminum prices, about 53 percent of the world's total aluminum production capacity (14 million tonnes per year) outside China is unprofitable.

In China itself, about 50 percent (more than 70 percent at end-October prices), or 15.7 million tons, of capacity became unprofitable at an average price of 11,824 yuan per ton in September 2015.

Since the beginning of 2015, the total aluminum price has declined by 27 percent to $ 1,666 per tonne at the end of September.

According to the International Aluminum Institute and CRU, aluminum production outside China in the first nine months of 2015 increased by 415 thousand tons, or 2.2 percent - to 19.592 million tons compared to the same period last year. Production growth was predominantly seen in Asia and the Middle East, while South and North America led the way in declining production.

From January to September 2015, the installed aluminum production capacity in China increased by 2.45 million tons to 37.7 million tons. About 3.0 million tons of new capacities were launched and about 616 thousand tons were restarted during this period.