Sverdlovsk Region-based aluminum manufacturers need to develop and to get upgraded, the region’s Industry Minister Alexander Petrov said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg.

‘The state of affairs at RUSAL is complicated for both objective and subjective reasons. The subjective reasons consist in a dramatic metal prices decrease on the global markets. We haven’t got any powerful energy resources in Sverdlovsk Region, yet the prime cost of aluminum production is quite high,’ the minister said.

‘RUSAL’s Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises deal in the export of aluminum ingots, which have only the minimum added value; we are actually exporting cheap electric power, as the power spending makes up a great percentage of this aluminum’s cost. We see our task as the development of science-intensive primary aluminum-based production facilities that will produce goods with high value-added,’ Petrov noted.