UPDATE 1-RUSAL may cut aluminium output in next 18 months

* CEO says could cut output by 6 pct in next 18 months

* Statement follows output cuts by Alcoa, rivals

* Producers blame oversupply, weak prices (Adds background, analysts' comment)

By Alfred Kueppers

MOSCOW, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Russia's UC RUSAL , the world's largest aluminium producer, said it could cut output by 6 percent in the next 18 months, confirming comments by its chief executive reported in the media on Friday.

"It may be up to 6 percent, which we expect may happen in the next 18 months," Chief Executive Oleg Deripaska told Bloomberg Television, according to a company spokeswoman.

The company, which accounts for about 10 percent of primary global aluminium output, said last week that it had no plans to follow U.S. rival Alcoa Inc's lead in cutting production.

Aluminium, which has a wide range of industrial applications in sectors such as aeronautics and automobile production, is a key indicator of global manufacturing demand.

RUSAL said last week that its smelters could continue operations even if prices fall to $1,900 per tonne.

It enjoys a relatively low production cost because it sources 80 percent of its electricity from hydropower plants in Siberia, according to HSBC.

Benchmark three-month aluminium was up 0.3 percent at $2,284 per tonne at 1201 GMT on the London Metal Exchange, well above the levels RUSAL said are required to maintain production.

Prices ended last year near 18-month lows on concerns about economic weakness and oversupply, prompting Alcoa to cut output at several European smelters.

Norway's Norsk Hydro, and Australia's Tomago Aluminium, partly owned by Rio Tinto have since followed suit, but analysts say that much of global production remains in the red.

"Based on the latest cost curve of Brook Hunt, we calculate that at the spot aluminium price some 40 percent of global aluminium production (circa 19 million tonnes in 2012 estimates) is loss-making," HSBC analysts wrote in a recent note. (Reporting by Alfred Kueppers, editing by Jane Baird)