HONG KONG: Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, said its net loss blew out to more than $3 billion last year as it was hit by record low metal prices and one-off restructuring charges.

The Hong Kong-listed Russian giant said it lost $3.22 billion, compared with a loss of $528 million in 2012, while revenue slumped 10.4 percent to $9.76 billion.

However, the company’s chief executive Oleg Deripaska forecast an uptick in demand for aluminum over the next two years, in line with a global economic recovery.

In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, Rusal said it paid impairment and one-off restructuring charges of $1.92 billion, including the cost of putting on hold the Taishet smelter project in Russia’s Irkutsk region because of a weak market.

It also said the price of aluminum had tumbled 8.6 percent last year to a record low of $1,845 per ton as demand tailed off.

Deripaska said that “2013 was another challenging year for the aluminum industry, despite consumption growth of 6 percent to 51.7 million tons.”

However, he expect to see a six percent increase in the demand for aluminum between 2014 and 2015, along with “clear signs” that the global economy will improve.

Shares in Rusal fell 1.47 percent to HK$2.68 ($0.35) in Hong Kong by lunch, while the benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 1.28 percent.