Soviet aluminum dumping (Siberian hydroelectric / canned electricity)

People for years have called aluminum canned electricity. When the former Soviet Union broke up in the 1980s, they had tremendous hydroelectric capacity in Siberia, and that's where they would produce their aluminum. They needed foreign exchange, and they would generate the electricity in Siberia — couldn't get it out of Siberia unless they made aluminum. They started dumping aluminum on the world market for half the price Alcoa and others made it, because that was the only way they could transport it out.