Aluminium producer Rusal's sales of aluminium value-added products (VAP) were down 22.2% year on year in the first quarter of 2019 amid US sanctions and high premiums, it announced on April 30.
Sales of value-added product, such as billet, foundry and slabs, reached 256,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2019, compared with 333,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2018. First-quarter sales were down 44.1% year on year from the first quarter of 2018 when 463,000 tonnes were sold.Rusal noted that the sanctions imposed by the United States significantly challenged the first quarter, which were removed after 10 months on January 27, 2019. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the US Treasury Department, first imposed the sanction on Rusal on April 6, 2018.While the Rusal sanctions remained, the premiums for VAPs spiked in Germany to a record high.Fastmarkets assessment of the premium...