Page 144 - RusRPTNov23

lithium field in the republic of Tuva with the license payment amounting to 557.8 million rubles, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said in a statement on October 2.
Rusal has distributed sales volumes for 2023 and is choosing the optimal sales portfolio for 2024, a company representative said. Details were not provided. In 1H23, the structure of Rusal's sales geography changed. Rusal received 33.3% of revenue from clients from Asia (the share increased by 10.7 p.p. y-o-y), 33.1% of revenue from clients from the CIS countries (the share increased by 3.7 p.p. y-o-y) /y), 31.4% of revenue came from clients from Europe (the share decreased by 8.6 p.p. y/y). We expect this trend to continue in 2023 and 2024.
Russian aluminum giant UC RUSAL has agreed to acquire a 30% stake in Chinese alumina plant Hebei Wenfeng New Materials (HWNM) for $266.9mn, the Russian company said in a statement published on the Hong Kong Exchange on October 24. The deal’s price could be adjusted depending on the working capital and debt as of the closing date, but it should not exceed 2.5bn Chinese yuan or $349.162mn. The deal is subject to approval of the Chinese authorities, corporate procedures, and agreement of the creditors of HWNM. HWNM operates an alumina refinery in the Hebei Province of China with an annual capacity of 4.8mn tonnes of alumina. Under the deal, HWNM and RUSAL will share the produced alumina in proportion to their shareholder equity.
Rusal is considering scenarios for closing some unprofitable plants against the backdrop of low aluminum prices and the introduction of an exchange rate export duty. The company did not comment on this message. In 1H23, in the structure of Rusal's revenue, the share of exports to Europe, Asia and America exceeded 65%; the Russian Federation and CIS countries accounted for about a third of revenue. The average selling price of Rusal aluminum in 1H23 was $2,501 per ton, the cost of aluminum production was $2,297 per ton. EBITDA margin in 1H23 was 4.9%, the historical average for the previous five years was 16%.
144 RUSSIA Country Report November 2023 www.intellinews.com