PRICING NOTICE: Update on Fastmarkets’ aluminium premiums following Rusal sanction removal

Fastmarkets will again accept Rusal material produced after April 6, 2018, in its aluminium price assessments following the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) decision to remove sanctions imposed on UC Rusal.

The US sanctions on Rusal were removed on Sunday January 27, 2019, having been imposed on April 6, 2018.

Transactions, bids and offers in the United States, Japan and Europe for Rusal’s aluminium ingots and t-bars and products produced both before and after April 6 will now be taken into consideration during the price assessment process.

This includes Fastmarkets’ benchmark P1020 premiums in Rotterdam, Italy, the US Midwest and main Japanese ports (MJP) as well as the billet and primary foundry alloy premiums.

Following the US sanctions being imposed on Rusal in April, Fastmarkets followed guidance provided by OFAC and the London Metal Exchange and all data for Rusal’s aluminium ingots and products produced after April 6 was discarded during the price assessment process.

The LME introduced a “temporary conditional suspension” on placing Rusal metal on-warrant in response to the sanctions. This suspension has now been removed allowing the warranting of Rusal dated before and after April 6, 2018, to resume.

The LME notice released on January 28 also said its members are now free to enter into contracts with Rusal.

Fastmarkets reserves the right, as per its methodology, to discard any pricing data that it views as non-reflective of the spot market.

To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents go https://www.metalbulletin.com/prices/pricing-methodology.html.

What to read next
Fastmarkets held an open consultation for the market to provide feedback and comments on its US-assessed palm and lauric oil prices. With no feedback having been received during the consultation, Fastmarkets will discontinue the following prices with effect from May 25: The above prices will be merged with the following prices: Under this change, Fastmarkets will […]
Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for its Middle East PIX Packaging GCC indices via an open consultation process between April 17 and May 20 2026.
The amendment follows the decision made on May 14, after a consultation period for the proposed changes, which took place between April 2 and May 11. The purpose of the change is to align the publication times to the activity in the relevant markets and ensure that subscribers receive timely and accurate pricing information. The affected […]
The amendment follows the decision made on May 14, after a consultation period for the proposed changes which took place between April 3 and May 11. The changes were first proposed in a pricing note published on April 3.  The purpose of the changes is to align the publication times to the activity in the […]
The price will be published weekly on Friday 5-6pm Shanghai time, instead of 7pm Shanghai time previously. The amendment aims to better reflect the prices of technology and energy metals (TEM) in the Chinese market and ensure that subscribers receive timely and accurate pricing information. The amendment was first announced in a pricing notice published […]
Fastmarkets has launched three weekly wheat freight rate assessments — Ukraine-Egypt, CVB-Egypt and Russia-Saudi Arabia — and has clarified that its existing Black Sea-North Africa freight assessment refers to the Russia-Egypt route and its Black Sea-Persian Gulf assessment refers to the Russia-Iran route. The Russia-Egypt assessment will also transition from Supramax to Handy-sized vessels. All changes are effective Wednesday May 20, 2026.