Russian Federation aluminium titan U.C. Rusal released operating results for the second quarter of 2019 on Friday. Production of aluminium and alumina remained essentially level, with sales in the quarter increasing to catch up on a backlog of product trapped in inventory due to last year’s OFAC sanctions.

In the first quarter Rusal produced 938 thousand metric tons of primary aluminium, up by 1 percent on the quarter. Krasnoyarsk led the way with 255 thousand metric tons of aluminium production, besting the Bratsk smelter by 3 million metric tons. Overall, Siberian smelters accounted for 93 percent of the firm’s total aluminium output in the quarter.

Sales of aluminium totaled 1,082 thousand metric tons in the second quarter, beating the prior quarter by 20.8 percent. Rusal credits a sell-down of inventories hemmed in last year by sanctions placed upon it by the United States government for the rise. Sales of value-added products rose by 59.9 percent on the quarter due to a planned gradual recovery in the overall sales mix.

Rusal’s first-quarter output of alumina totaled 1,918 thousand metric tons, off by 0.7 percent from the first quarter. Aughinish Alumina led production with 470 thousand metric tons, leading Nikolaev Alumina by 60 thousand metric tons. Rusal’s refineries in Russia made up about 36 percent of the quarter’s total refined product.