Good day and welcome to the Norsk Hydro Preliminary Q1 Update Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Simonsen. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Good morning and welcome to this market and operational update for the first quarter of 2019. Presentations were sent out this morning and can also be found on hydro.com. The slides will be presented today by our President and CEO, Svein Richard Brandtzæg, followed by a Q&A session, which is also joined by CFO, Eivind Kallevik. As you're aware, our complete Q1 reporting, including financials, has been postponed due to the cyber attack that hit us on March 19th. While we are well underway with the recovery process from this attack, certain systems and data remain unavailable to us and necessitated this reporting delay. Instead, we present what we can today in terms of operational and market updates to keep you as informed as possible until our full reporting on June 5th. With that, I'll leave the word to you, Svein Richard.
Thank you, Even. Dear everyone following us at this webcast, welcome to our operational and market update for the first quarter. Now I'm at the page starting with the first quarter highlights. I informed the board of directors in November that I wanted to step down after 10 years as CEO of the company. We announced in this quarter that Hilde Merete Aasheim will take over as the President and CEO of Hydro, effective from May 8th. As we have informed about earlier, the cyber attack impacted operations in a large part of the portfolio, with Extruded Solutions being affected the most and bearing the largest share of the estimated impact of the cyber attack in the first quarter of about NOK 400 million-450 million.
This compares to the estimated NOK 300 million-NOK 350 million we indicated for the first week of the attack. That's where we also pointed out that the losses would gradually come down in line with production coming back on stream. With regards to Alunorte, their embargoes on both production and the use of the new DRS2 box at residue deposit area remain in force, and the timing of Alunorte returning to normal operation remains uncertain. We did, however, have a highly positive development on April 12th, where we were able to provide the federal court with a joint petition together with Ministério Público to lift the production embargo. During the quarter, we made a successful Eurobonds placement for a total of EUR 800 million, highly attractive terms for the company.
During the quarter, Extruded Solutions made two smaller but strategic acquisitions within the building system segment, one in Germany and the other one in the Middle East. In terms of the global balance for aluminum, we are at the end of the first quarter reconfirming our estimate of the global market for primary metal to be in deficit for the full year of 2019. On global demand, we have revised our estimate for the full year down from 2%-3% to 1%-3%, driven by lower-than-expected demand outside China. If you then move over to the page starting with status update cyber attack and then moving to the impact of the cyber attack in the first quarter on current status, our current high-level estimate indicates NOK 400 million-NOK 450 million for the period between March 19th until the end of March.
This amount is the sum of business interruption and additional costs related to the incident. We underline that this is a preliminary estimate, and we also reiterate that losses narrow with production coming back towards normal. We are therefore grateful that overall value creation Extruded Solutions over harvested business area has come back to above 90% of normal, all based on extensive workarounds measures and manual procedures. In the four other business areas, we have been able to maintain production more or less at normal levels, but also here with the workarounds and manual procedures. The strain on people in all this has been considerable and at critical periods bordering on the extreme. We are therefore very pleased to note that our safety track record has not suffered from this.
In fact, it has come down compared to last year, and we are continuously evaluating steps to reduce workloads and overall stress levels. We are also working intensively with our customers to make sure that they are as well informed as possible and that the impact on them is minimized to the extent possible. Cyber risk has been high on Hydro's risk agenda for years, and as we have stated earlier, Hydro has a robust cyber insurance in place with recognized insurers. Let's move over to the Alunorte status, and let me turn to the current status in Brazil and what we foresee in terms of next steps. Firstly, Alunorte, Paragominas, and Albras continue to run at 50% as the production embargo on Alunorte remains in force.
While we cannot say when we expect any changes to this, we did have a highly positive development during the first quarter when we made a joint petition with Ministério Público to lift the production embargo. That happened during the hearing in federal court on April 12th, and we now are awaiting the court's evaluation of this petition and all the studies supporting that Alunorte can safely resume normal operations. During the April 12th hearing, engineering consultancy Rambøll also confirmed Alunorte's ability to resume safe operations. Rambøll was hired on behalf of Ministério Público to conduct a third-party assessment for two independent reports from State Environmental Agency SEMAS and the Federal University of Campina Grande. Both of these independent reports have concluded that Alunorte can resume safe operations.
Going forward, the timing of a decision by the federal court remains uncertain, but we remain ready to initiate ramp-up at any time. Remaining lifetime of DRS1, estimated to be 8-18 months depending on Alunorte production volume, subject to geotechnical verification, the lifetime of DRS1 might be further extended. Alunorte is working to lift DRS2 embargo in parallel, which is the only viable long-term solution for operating Alunorte. Once the embargoes are lifted, production is expected to reach 75%-85% of nameplate capacity within two months. The timing of return to full capacity depends on the commissioning process of the press filters as well as the planned installation of the ninth press filter during operation in the third quarter of 2019.
Moving on to the bond issue, coming to a very different issue from cyber attacks in Brazil, embargoes, we announced on March 28 a Eurobonds issue of a total of EUR 800 million, which was then quickly placed in the market at attractive terms for the company. The issue consists of two tranches: one 6-year tranche of EUR 500 million and the other 10-year tranche of EUR 300 million. We intend to utilize the proceeds of the bond issues for general corporate purposes, including refinancing of debt, and have applied for them to be listed at the Irish Stock Exchange in Dublin. Our subscription is more than 5 times higher than actual. Let's move over to the page starting with Extruded Solutions acquisitions. Finally, before we move over to the market update, I would like to mention two strategic bolt-on acquisitions within the building system segment.
During the quarter, Extruded Solutions acquired the remaining 50% of Technal Middle East in Bahrain, giving it full ownership after having established it as a 50/50 joint venture in 2000. TME delivers tailor-made solutions throughout the region, and the deal is expected to be closed during the second quarter depending on regulatory approvals. Also in the quarter, Extruded Solutions acquired the MBG powder coating company in Germany, representing a final piece in the puzzle for providing a complete range of construction services in the region. We are ready for the market update for the first quarter of 2019, and we move over to the page starting with global aluminium market in surplus in first quarter 2019.
In the first quarter, we ended up with a global demand growth of about 0.3% compared to the first quarter last year, consisting of a marginal negative demand growth in China and around 0.8% outside China. Global supply grew around 1% compared to the first quarter last year. This resulted in a global surplus in the first quarter, as seen on the graph on the left-hand side, which is normal seasonal development in the first quarter driven by the Chinese New Year, consisting of a deficit of around 0.5 million tonnes in the world ex-China and China's market of around 0.8 million surplus. On a 12-month rolling basis, right-hand side, we still have a substantial deficit to the tune of 1.5 million tonnes.
Lastly, on the global demand, we have revised our global demand estimate to 1%-3%, down from 2%-3% communicated in the fourth quarter, driven by slower-than-expected demand growth outside China, especially in Europe. Let me move over to 2019 and estimate the global balance for the full year. As mentioned, we have adjusted down the range on demand growth to 1%-3% globally from 2%-3%. It is due to a lower estimate for the world ex-China, adjusted down from 1%-3% to 0%-2%, mainly driven by a slowdown in Europe and particularly Germany, following trade uncertainty and a weak automotive industry. In addition, we see lower growth in Asia ex-China, affected by high Chinese chemicals export targeting these countries.
For China, we have kept our growth estimate of 2%-4% as demand in picking up from slow starts in the year following economic stimulus measures. The supply side, we have also adjusted down our expectation for the world ex-China, down from 3%-4% to 2%-3%. Expansions in the Middle East and U.S. restarts are progressing, as expected, we have seen smelter closures in Venezuela and slower-than-expected progress at curtailed smelters in Albras and Bécancour, which drives down overall growth. In China, we have also seen slower development in supply as more smelters have curtailed capacity, our growth expectations for the year have been adjusted down from 2%-4% to 1%-3%.
The closure of high-cost smelters together with improving shipping, we have improved margins for Chinese smelters. We are currently estimating about 25% of the Chinese smelters losing money, a significant improvement from the 70% in the red in the fourth quarter. If you add this together, we see a global market balance in the deficit of between 1 and 1.5 million tons for the full year 2019, with the latest development pointing towards the lower end of this range. Let's move over to the page showing the aluminum price range bond in first quarter. The average market LME decreased from fourth quarter to first quarter on average 5%, from $1,978-$1,880.
In the first quarter, the LME price started the year at $1,820 per tonne and has since been mostly ranged around $1,850 and $1,950 per tonne, ended the quarter at around $1,910 per tonne. Prices have continued to trade in this range and are currently trading around the $1,850-$1,870 on April 25th. Our realized price was $1,912 per tonne in the first quarter versus $2,041 in the fourth quarter of 2018 and $2,140 in the first quarter of 2018. We observe that the shipping has improved over the last months, reducing the difference between shipping and LME. At the same time, we have seen continued high export out of China in first quarter, particularly in January and March, on average at 14% versus first quarter last year.
Due to low export figures in February due to the Chinese New Year, Chinese exports were lower in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, down 7% versus the previous quarter. The right-hand graph, we show market premiums in key regions. The US Midwest increased sharply in the late first quarter and into the second quarter of last year, following the announced US tariffs on imported aluminum. It was stable in the third quarter and drifted downwards throughout the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of this year, the premium has stayed relatively stable but drifted down in April, and it's currently trading around $413 per tonne. The European standard input premium improved in the first quarter and is now trading at $145 per tonne. On the other hand, we see that product premiums in Europe are falling over the same period.
Extrusion input premium started the year at $465 per tonne and is currently trading at $375 per tonne. Similarly, foundry alloys premium has decreased from $405 per tonne to $350 per tonne over the same period, reflecting the softening demand in Europe. Let's move over to the aluminum price development, average PAX Platts Alumina Index alumina price decreased in the first quarter versus the fourth quarter last year, down from $450 per tonne in the fourth quarter to $387 per tonne in the first quarter. Our realized alumina price in the first quarter was $373 per tonne versus $463 per tonne in the fourth quarter and $371 per tonne in the first quarter of 2018. Alumina prices were more stable in the first quarter compared to the previous quarters experienced a downward trend in the first part before increasing in March and early April.
The price has come down again over the last 2 weeks and is currently trading around $363 per tonne. Arbitrage for alumina exports out of China was negative throughout the 1st quarter, we have seen very limited volumes being exported so far in 2019. We are still very active in the third-party market sourcing alumina, we have secured alumina for current primary production throughout the 2nd quarter this year. Depending on timing of Alunorte resuming production, we will still need to purchase external alumina also going forward. Let's move over to the downstream demand, if we look at the page showing the downstream demand in Europe and North America, we see, as expected, growth in 2019 versus 2090 within key segments in North America and Europe. We continue to see positive growth in both regions.
However, we see that the European market is progressing slower than expected. We have adjusted down our estimates, particularly within Extruded Solutions. Transport and automotive has been affected by lower production rates, and growth is adjusted down from about 3% to just about 1% in Europe. The industrial segment has also been affected by slowing economy and increasing uncertainty, particularly in Germany, and thus adjusted down from 2% to slightly negative. Extruded Solutions demand in North America is progressing largely in line with earlier estimates with all segments growing between 2% and 4%, supported by continued strong macroeconomic sentiment. For all products, we also here see the effect of economic slowdown in Europe. Growth in construction has been adjusted down from about 1.5% to just about 0. Transport and automotive has also been adjusted slightly down.
This segment will still experience about 4% growth driven by substitution. Also for exclusion, growth in exclusive industrial Europe has also here been adjusted down to negative territory. All products in North America are expected to grow 3%-4%, about a percentage point higher than our estimate in the fourth quarter release, driven by stronger than expected demand from the transport and automotive segment. Let's then move over to raw material cost for the aluminium industry, which continued to trend downwards. While 2017 and parts of 2018 were mostly characterized by increasing raw material costs, we have seen a downward trend over the last quarters, continuing also in the first quarter this year. For alumina, the black bars on this slide, cost excess has come significantly down the last quarters, and this trend continued also in the first quarter.
Far in April, we have seen cost excess prices increase slightly compared to the prices in March. For fuel oil and coal, we have also seen a declining trend from peak levels in 2018, and this continues also in the first quarter of 2019. If we look at the main cost for producing primary aluminium, the light gray bars, we are also seeing a trend of reduced prices for alumina as well as black raw materials. Even though the prices have come further down as we have certain time lags for realizing their effects, the decline is only partly evident in our results. Consequently, we do expect some further cost relief in the second quarter. All of these impact factors are more or less globally priced and traded and will be felt all across the aluminium industry, not only in Hydro. Some comments on energy.
The energy price increased from first quarter of 2018 due to weaker hydrological balance and an increase in the continental spot prices. The lift in continental spot prices was primarily due to higher production cost for coal and gas power plants, driven by higher CO2 price. The Nordic hydrological balance declined from about 3 terawatt-hours below normal at the end of first quarter of 2019 to 7 terawatt-hours below normal at the end of first quarter of 2019. The hydrological balance improved during the quarter of 7.2 terawatt-hours below normal at the end of the first quarter from 15 terawatt-hours below normal at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018. We are given some operational updates on the next slide, and here we have summarized certain operational data, which is normally part of our quarterly presentation.
As I mentioned earlier, financial results will be released on June 5th. Please note that parts of the first quarter of 2019 data are based on estimates as we are still lacking access to certain data and systems. In case of deviations, the data will be updated in the release on June 5th. Overall, the impact of the cyber attack on volumes in the business areas is marginal, except for Extruded Solutions, which have lost considerable volumes during the cyber attack impact. Oxide and alumina, as discussed earlier, are still producing at 50% in Alunorte and Paragominas, impacting the volumes in the quarter accordingly compared to the same quarter last year. The realized alumina price follows market prices, as you know, and as discussed earlier.
Primary metal, lower production and sales volume due to Albras curtailment, which has an impact of 44 kilotonnes, 44,000 tons negative, somewhat offset by increased volume from the startup of the Karmøy Technology Pilot, which is contributing positively with 18,000 tons. Prices are in line with what was guided on in the fourth quarter of 2018. On metal markets, remelted production and sales volumes are lower due to fire in DSA than Henderson and lower metal product sales driven by slower exclusive input in the European market and more challenging from the alloy market conditions in Asia and Europe. In the raw products, sales volumes were at the same level as same quarter last year. On the positive side, performance in automotive like we are improving. This is along with more customer qualification and strong demand led to higher volumes in the automotive customers.
However, weaker results in foil segment and some limited volume effects due to cyber attack offset increase. Extruded Solutions, as mentioned, Extruded Solutions have been affected most by the cyber attack and have lost considerable volumes in the quarter accordingly. As you know, Extruded Solutions are focusing on its value above volume strategy. We are not working towards volume increases as such and had expected and planned for the current quarter volumes somewhat below the same quarter last year before the cyber attack hit us. The actual volumes are falling short of this due to the cyber attack. On energy, first quarter prices due to lower than normal hydrological balance support the prices from increased Nordic forward prices, driven mainly by snow levels below normal and higher CO2 prices, and production impacted by planned maintenance activities in Sunndal.
Thank you, Svein Richard . Operator, we are now ready for questions.
Sure, sir. Thank you. Participants, if you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to reach your equipment. Again, press star 1 to ask a question. We'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions. We now take our first question from Ioannis Masvoulas from Macquarie.
Good morning, thanks for taking my questions. Got three questions, actually. The first on bauxite and alumina. Alunorte's production was fairly stable, but third-party alumina sales were significantly lower quarter-over-quarter. Is it a reflection of a necessary adjustment in your alumina inventories, or is there anything else driving this? I'll stop here for the first question.
If you remember back in Q4 last year, we sourced significant amounts of extra volumes of alumina post the announcement of a full curtailment of Alunorte in October. The volumes in Q4 were very high due to that reason, and we also guided that the third-party sales could come down quite a bit in Q1, and that's what you see in the first quarter.
Is there more to come on that front, or are you pretty much now at normal levels?
We are closer to normal levels, what you should see in the current situation.
Great. Thank you. The second question on Extruded Solutions, you alluded to the fact that volumes were down year-over-year, partly due to the shift towards sort of a structural volume story. Could you please quantify that 8% decline?
How much is that structural shift, and how much is due to the cyber attack?
I think if you say that roughly 2/3 are due to the cyber attack and 1/3 is due to planned lower volumes.
Okay. That's great. One last question on my side. On DRS1, the estimated range of the remaining life is still very wide. What's driving that 8-month to 18-month range? When do you think you'll be able to provide an hour range or potential extension to the mine life?
This is under evaluation because there are still potentials to extend the lifetime of DRS1, and we will come back to that at a later stage. There is geomechanical work that is now ongoing, and we will come back to that later.
Thank you very much.
The range between 8 and 18 months has more to do with what you assume as production levels at Alunorte, whether you assume it's producing at 50% or whether you assume it's producing at 75%-85%. I think it's important what Sonic assessed is that there are still large areas in DRS1 where you potentially can deposit and will deposit the dry precipitate material, but that needs to go through geotechnical studies first, which is then not included in 8.
Thank you. We take our next question.
Yeah. Morning. It's Menno at Morgan Stanley . Just on DRS2 fees, do I understand it correctly from the text that DRS2 is not or a resumption of the use of DRS2 is not part of the petition that the company and Ministério Público filed with the courts?
That petition only reflects production rates and not the use of that DRS2.
That is correct, Menno. That is a separate process.
Can you tell us why that is a separate process and what we should expect for that process? What are the stage gates that we need to look out for?
The federal judge in Belém is going to make a decision on two elements here. One is the volume on Alunorte, and the second one is DRS2. To begin to make the final decision here.
Slightly off note, the Ministério Público and the company did not immediately apply for approval to use DRS2 because 100% production for eight months is kind of worth nothing, no? It's almost more negative, I would argue. What's the thinking behind this?
I think there are two issues, Menno.
One is we have filed the census and documentation also for DRS2 or DRS2. It's not like we haven't done anything. We were also anticipating that the judge will look into that matter, it is a separate case. I think when it comes to. Say your assumption on 8% at 100%, I'll refer back to my previous answer. There are large areas in DRS1 which have currently not undergone sufficient geotechnical studies. We need to wait for the dry season to do that. Assuming. Which we do anticipate that that will be okay. There are significant acreage where we can deposit more precipitate material at DRS1, meaning that we do expect that the lifetime is longer than the eight months.
Yeah. Okay. On the press filter number 9, is it on site? Is it being assembled?
Where are we in the commissioning process? Yeah.
The main part is already arrived, so it's assembly and commissioning will start after summer. As I said, we expect that to be starting up in the third quarter of this year. Okay.
Okay. The second question is around the cost of the cyber attack. The NOK 400 million-NOK 450 million, is that inside the insurance cap that the company has? Secondly, what is the self-insured portion of any damage that the company has?
We cannot comment on the specific cyber insurance amounts that we have in place, but take it as an indication that we said that we have a very robust insurance in place. We're comfortable at the moment. The self-insured part, Menno, we haven't guided specifically on that, but that's a marginal piece of the cyber insurance. Okay.
Okay. That's great. Thank you very much.
Thank you, sir. We take our next question from Daniel Major from UBS.
Hi. Thanks so much, Dan, from UBS. A few follow-up questions. Is it possible to give the exact date at which the 90-day indicative timeline that was provided for the federal court to review the documentation expires? Therefore, an exact date where the court may be in a position to make a ruling on the restart of the other 50% of Alunorte.
I think there are two different issues at hand here, Dan. I think when it comes to the petition delivered by Ministério Público and ourselves, that is something that he can make a decision on when the judge decides to do so. That is irrespective of the 90-day interval.
He still needs to when it comes to the 90 days, which he may or may not view as independent of this, he still needs to announce his experts, and that's then the 60-day evaluation period. He can make his decision before that is conducted.
Okay. What is the simple date on the 90 days? I appreciate it doesn't guarantee that there's any decision going to be made on that date, but just so we know that during that's the end of that period. Do you have a date on that?
He still needs to announce his experts, at which point a 60-day period starts. Since I don't have that date, it's hard to give you a clear end of that timeline.
Right.
You're saying that there's still potentially 60 days beyond still to go once there's an announcement of sort of who they allocate to review it. Is that correct?
Potentially. Again, that's up to his discretion. As I said, he can make a decision before that period is over.
Okay. Thanks. Okay. On the cyber attack, can you give us any early indications of the Q2 impact on EBIT?
Not as of yet. What we clearly see is that the impact has been going down, as we've indicated before, week by week as we get more and more systems back in operation. That's the same trend that we continue to see also during April and expectance for second quarter. Let's call it the weekly burn rate should be significantly lower as we get into April compared to what you've seen in March.
Okay. Thanks.
Next one, just on the ramp-up timeline, well, two elements. At Alunorte, I mean, assuming the press filter 9 starts up in the third quarter, is there any reason and obviously, the volume restriction is lifted, is there any reason why Alunorte couldn't operate at full capacity in the fourth quarter?
It depends, of course, on the success of the commissioning of the 9th filter and, of course, also on the commission on existing filters as there are still improvements ongoing. There could be a possibility, but we are also looking at alternatives how to utilize the system in an even better way. It's about the cycle time for the press filters that we are looking into to reduce the cycle time. That is a key for lifting the capacity.
As I said, with the filters we have, we will be at 75%-85%, and then we get a new filter on board early third quarter.
Okay. Thanks. Just final one on the cash flow impacts looking into on this quarter. There's obviously been quite a bit of disruption because of the cyber attack, and also it looks like you've destocked a little bit of alumina inventory. Could you give us any steer on where you think change in working capital and any one-off impacts on the net debt beyond the IFRS 16 you've already indicated?
I think we'll have to come back to that in June 5th meeting, Dan, to be honest. There will be some, as we say, some operating capital release probably out of P&A.
The NOK 750 or the NOK 4,450, as we've said, on the cyber, a lot of that is, of course, lost sales while we keep the costs. A big part of that is going to be a cash impact.
All right. Thanks a lot.
Thank you so much, sir. We take our next question from Eivind Sars Veddeng from DNB Markets.
Hi. Good morning. All my questions have been answered. Thank you.
Thank you so much, sir. Participant, if you find that your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star 2. We now take our next question from Ben gt Jonassen from ABG Sundal Collier.
Good morning. Bengt Jonassen from ABG in Oslo. One question on where we are currently operating on the Extruded Solutions on your above 90% compared to normal levels.
Typically, 2Q is the largest quarter for the Extruded Solutions. Can you give any flavor on potential lost volumes in that quarter or the current quarter given current operations?
Yeah. Really got to the volumes. it is improving day by day, and we are now around 93% compared to full capacity. At the same time, we should remember that we also have the valuable volume process that is ongoing. That has an impact in the other direction. Eivind, maybe you can elaborate on that.
I think what you should do is just take 2Q last year as the starting point, Bank. We've said that we're already slightly above 90% as we get into Q2. You should start to see some improvements on that during the quarter.
10% decline does something to your volumetric side in terms of sales, and that's how I would think about it.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. We take our next question.
Hi, everyone. It's from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. I've got a question on the in-demand charts that you've presented. You're still talking about quite a robust picture from transport in markets in extrusion and raw products, even though slightly lower than your previous guidance. I'm just wondering what you're seeing on the ground considering that we've got Western European auto production down nearly 8% in Q1. How much of your more positive outlook on demand is about substitution? Maybe you can give us some color on how your automotive end buyers are actually responding. Thank you.
I think it's clear that substitution is the main driver here, and this is very much about body in white where steel is replaced with aluminium. It is also clear that the number of cars, especially in Europe, is moving at a slower pace. That is impacting the demand, but it's still strong in total due to the fact that the substitution is still ongoing. There is still room for significant more substitution also going forward. We see more and more car models now replacing steel body with aluminium body.
Okay. To the extent that the WLTP bottlenecks in Europe have impacted some of your in-demand, I don't know if you could give us any color in terms of where your customers are with regards to that.
Have you started to see the demand outlook stabilizing, or are those bottlenecks still impacting your customers' demand for products? I don't know if you can give us any color on that.
I think what we've seen for many at least some of the parts that we do deliver is that a big part of the body has still been produced, as we've talked about in the past. It's probably had a bigger impact on what you can call precision tubing and some of the foundry alloys. As soon as we start to see that they get all the WLTP testing clarified and get the process optimized, we do expect to see a slight uptick in terms of demand on PT and some of the foundry alloy offtakes. It all depends on when the OEMs are good and ready and have the process optimized.
Okay. Perfect.
Thank you.
One second. Participants, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. It appears there are no further questions at this time, sir.
Okay. As there seems to be no further questions, we can end this call. Thank you for joining us today. Of course, as always, if you have any follow-up
Sorry? Sorry to interrupt, sir. We have 1 question geared up now. Can we take it?
Go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you, sir. We take our next question from Daniel Major from UBS.
Hi. Sorry. It's a quick follow-up. A bit late logging up. Can you give us any indication of the ramp-up timeline for Albras once assuming you get the go-ahead to restart volumes at Alunorte?
Yeah. There are two elements. One is the ramp-up of Albras that is more or less directly connected to Alunorte. There will be some coordination between these ramp-ups. Technically, we could ramp up Albras around three months if we have yeah. From the day we are getting the message that we can run Alunorte at full speed, we will, of course, evaluate how fast we are going to ramp up Albras. Technically, it will take three months.
Great. Thanks. Thank you, sir.
There are no further questions at this time, sir.
Okay. Thank you. Again, thank you for joining us. If you have any follow-ups, as always, don't hesitate to contact us. Just let me finish off by reminding you again that our official Q1 results will be published on June 5th. Thank you again. Goodbye.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your line.