Russian aluminum giant UC RUSAL expects global aluminum demand to rise by 3.7% YoY, to 68 million tons in 2019, as the market recovers from the trade wars and after supply crises of July-December 2018, the company said.
In 2018, global demand for aluminum grew by 3.6%, to 65.6 million tons, and demand in China gained 4.6%, to 35.8 million tons. RUSAL expects China’s demand for the metal to grow by 5.1%, to 37.6 million tons in 2019 supported by state stimulation of lending and of capital investment. Markets outside China will suffer from a heavy deficit of aluminum this year, the company said.
Last year demand for primary aluminum in Russia and the CIS states went up by 9.9%, to 1.1 million tons, and it might increase to 1.2-1.25 million tons in 2019 supported by expansion of the construction materials and power distribution industries, RUSAL said. (Prime/Ukrainian metal)