Rusal partners with Mingtai Aluminium to produce low-carbon products

Aluminium producer Rusal has partnered with Henan Mingtai Aluminium to deliver low-carbon aluminium products to meet growing market demand, it said on Tuesday January 19.

Rusal will supply its ALLOW brand of low-carbon primary aluminium to Mingtai Aluminium’s plants, including the new Gwangyang rolling mill in South Korea.

The Gwangyang complex will commence operations in the third quarter of 2021, producing aluminium products with a reduced carbon footprint.

Rusal, owned by En+ Group, said its ALLOW brand will enable Mingtai Aluminium to offer products with a carbon footprint several times lower than the industry average.

Rusal is the largest producer of low-carbon aluminium. The ALLOW brand has an average carbon footprint of 2.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per tonne of aluminium produced – for scope 1 and 2 smelter emissions.

“I am pleased that En+ Group Metals segment represented by Rusal has partnered with Mingtai. This clearly indicates China and South Korea’s forward-looking drive towards carbon neutrality,” Lord Gregory Barker, executive chairman of the board of directors at En+ Group, said.

“This is a transformational business opportunity generated by the growing market demand for more sustainable aluminium products. This partnership will deliver excellent quality while providing substantial societal and environmental benefits.”

Mingtai and Rusal will also work together on research and development activities to produce innovative alloys and develop new mold dimensions, En+ said.

Due to growing interest in the low-carbon aluminium space, Fastmarkets is proposing to launch low-carbon aluminium differentials to its existing European P1020 and value-added product (VAP) premiums to meet market demand for a low-carbon aluminium pricing mechanism.

The specifications for these low-carbon aluminium differentials will be a carbon limit of 4tCO2e per tonne of aluminium produced, Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

To provide feedback on the proposal or give your thoughts on low-carbon aluminium pricing, please contact Alice Mason and Justin Yang by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Alice Mason/Justin Yang, re: Green Aluminium.’

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