Russia's Rusal, consumers propose import tax on aluminium products

Russian aluminium maker Rusal and several of its domestic consumers have proposed a tax on imports of products containing aluminium, such as wheel disks, Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday.

Rusal, along with a number of state firms including defence conglomerate Rostec, United Aircraft Corp and United Shipbuilding Corp, and a subsidiary of U.S. Alcoa which owns one plant in Russia, made the proposal to the government at an Industry Ministry meeting this week, the paper said.

The companies also announced the creation of an association which will focus on increasing aluminium consumption in Russia and decreasing the use of imports, Vedomosti reported, citing Roman Andryushin, Rusal's sales chief in Russia.

Participants at the meeting proposed an import duty of between 20 and 30 percent on wheel disks and some types of foil, Vedomosti said, citing an unnamed participant of the meeting.

Rusal and the Industry Ministry were not available for immediate comment.

Aluminium consumption in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) reached 1.9 million tonnes in 2014, of which Rusal supplied 0.9 million tonnes.

Aluminium imports totalled 700,000 tonnes and the remaining 300,000 tonnes were produced from scrap, Vedomosti said, citing Rusal's data.

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