UC RUSAL to cut annual aluminum output by 4%

Russia’s United Company RUSAL plans to cut aluminum production by 180,000 tonnes per year, or 4% of the company’s total production, as part of a program aimed at helping the company weather the financial crisis, RUSAL said Monday.

RUSAL also plans to cut alumina production by 50% at its Eurallumina facility in Italy and by 35% at its Windalco plan in Jamaica due to falling demand.

RUSAL has suspended construction of the Taishet aluminum smelter in the Irkutsk Region for a period of seven months, Ruslan Bolotov, the region’s minister for roads and construction said Monday.

UC RUSAL started construction of the smelter in 2007.

The smelter’s first batch of metal was scheduled to be produced in late 2009. Construction was expected to be completed sometime in October-December 2011.

The annual production capacity of the smelter is expected to amount to 750,000 tonnes of primary aluminum.

UC RUSAL controls four bauxite mines, 13 alumina refineries, 15 aluminum smelters, and three foil mills.