Russian aluminium producer United Company Rusal has reduced its first-quarter sales of value added products (VAP) by 44% from a year ago and by 22% from the last quarter of 2018 because of sanctions by the US. Washington imposed the sanctions on Rusal, the world’s largest aluminium producer outside China, in April 2018 but lifted them on January 27 as company co-owner Oleg Deripaska reduced his stake after months of talks and several extensions of the deadline for sanctions to take full effect.
