London 20/06/2016 - UC Rusal could halt 200,000 tonnes of aluminium production should prices fall below $1,500 per tonne, a company representative told FastMarkets.
In February the company said that it was considering the cuts but did not put a level on what the price would need to fall to. But CEO Vladislav Soloviev told the RIA news agency in an interview that this would be the trigger.
As well, the company does not plan on restarting any of its smelters idled in 2013.
The lightweight metal was last at $1,625 per tonne on the LME, a $10 increase on the previous close. The last time aluminium was under $1,500 was in April this year, which took the price back to 2009 lows.
In its January-March financial statement, the producer forecast the deficit in the aluminium market, excluding China, to widen to 2.4 million tonnes in 2016 from 1.2 million tonnes last year.
In 2015, Rusal accounted for around seven percent of global production of aluminium.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)