Russia's RUSAL to start Boguchansk aluminium smelter in H1

Russia's Rusal Plc plans to start its new Boguchansk aluminium smelter in the first half of 2016, the company said on Wednesday, after reporting a 53 percent slide in its fourth-quarter core profit.

Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer, has been hit by weak metal prices and the start of its Boguchansk smelter in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region has been repeatedly postponed.

"Everything is ready from the technical point of view, and the first stage is running in a test mode," said Oleg Mukhamedshin, deputy chief executive. The smelter's first stage has a capacity of 147,000 tonnes of aluminium per year.

The company will announce the start of the smelter's production as soon as it receives approval from Russian authorities, he told reporters. Rusal, controlled by Oleg Deripaska and part-owned by Glencore, is also still considering a plan to reduce the company's total output capacity by 200,000 tonnes, excluding the new Boguchansk smelter, Mukhamedshin added.

Rusal also said it expected global aluminium demand to rise 5.7 percent in 2016 to 59.6 million tonnes as Chinese appetite for the metal expands 7 percent to 31 million tonnes.

Rusal's shares fell 2.5 percent in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

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