The world’s biggest aluminum producer, UC Rusal, reports that its raw petcoke purchase price dropped by 21.7 percent in 2015. The company does not specify how much it spent for petcoke (petroleum coke) or what volume was purchased.
The main reasons for the lower costs were sinking commodity prices, Russian ruble depreciation in 2015 and decreased purchase volumes.
Rusal’s purchase price for calcined petroleum coke decreased at a lower pace, sinking by 10.4 percent, while raw pitch coke prices fell by 11.1 percent and pitch by 3.2 percent.
Rusal, which accounts for 7 percent of global aluminum production, expects global aluminum demand to grow in 2016 by 5.7 percent to 59.6 million. This expected growth is based on strong demand in North America, Europe and Asia. The primary aluminum market will hit a deficit of 1.2 million tons in 2016 compared to a surplus of of 0.6 million tons the year before.
Source: Legion Oil & Gas LLC
