MOSCOW: Russian aluminium giant Rusal said it plans to boost its production by 19 percent from 2016 levels to 4.4 million tonnes by 2021, amid rising global demand.
Rusal, which is controlled by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, said in a presentation it expected global demand for aluminium to grow by 4 to 5 percent per year until 2021 amid higher demand for "green" aluminium and advanced alloys.
The Hong Kong-listed company also said it aims to use 100 percent non-carbon energy sources for its smelting assets by 2020, up 5 percentage points from the current level.
Rusal also hopes to increase sales of value-added products by 47 percent compared with 2016 to 2.5 million tonnes in 2020, it said in its May presentation published on its website.
The value-added aluminium products like alloys in the form of ingots, bars, billets, slabs and wire rod are used in auto and power sectors, Rusal produce them at its Siberian smelters.
Rusal's total production plan includes output from its Siberian Boguchansk and Taishet aluminium projects.
Construction of the Taishet plant began in 2007 but Rusal delayed it when aluminium prices declined. However, global prices have risen 12 percent so far this year, and the company said last month it was preparing to resume the project.
Rusal plans to agree on financing terms for the smelter in 2017.
Global demand for primary aluminium is expected to rise by 13.5 million tonnes over the next five years to 73.2 million tonnes, it added.
Aluminium consumption is relatively low in Russia, at 5.6 kg per capita a year compared with the global average of 8 kg, and Rusal hopes that the total annual consumption will rise to 2.1 million tonnes by 2021 in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
This Moscow-dominated group of post-Soviet countries and Russia currently consume 1.4 million tonnes of aluminium a year, including 1 million tonnes of primary and secondary metal and about 400,000 tonnes of imported semi-finished products.
The company also said in the presentation it planned to have regular dividend payments and to decrease its covenant net debt to covenant core earnings (EBITDA) ratio to less than 3x within five years from 3.2 at the end of March.
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