United Company RUSAL’s aluminum output went up by 3.8% (from 1,962,637 tons to 2,037,236 tons) in January-June 2007, whereas the high-value-added production rose by 14%. This was brought about by the ongoing expansion, equipment upgrades, and improving on the aluminum plants’ technical and economic characteristics. The share of high-value-added production came to 52% of all the aluminum produced by United Company RUSAL, their press officer reports.

Since the beginning of the year, the enterprise has mainly focused on developing new types of products for the car industry by launching special kinds of alloys at its Bratskiy and Novokuznetskiy aluminum plants. At the moment, 22% of all the goods produced by the company are meant for car industry and machine-building.

The fact that the company’s aluminum enjoyed less demand on the American market and increasing demand on the European one led to more aluminum exported to Europe, with the share of Europe-bound goods amounting to 49% of everything exported by United Company RUSAL in January-June 2007 (which exceeds the figures for January-June 2006 by 8%). The ever-increasing consumption of aluminum by transport, packaging, and construction industries makes Russia and the CIS a top priority market. The share of goods shipped around Russia and the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States reached 21% of the company’s shipments in the first half of 2007.