Feb 5 2009
Further production curtailment could be initiated shortly at Hydro’s primary aluminium plant in Neuss, Germany. The plant, with a production capacity of 230,000 tonnes, could be mothballed if the competitive situation does not improve significantly.
GERMANY: Further production curtailment could be initiated shortly at Hydro’s primary aluminium plant in Neuss.
“We do not see any signs of significant improvements within the timeframe required for continued, sustainable operations at Neuss. We are therefore in the final stages of considering further production curtailment, in dialogue with union representatives and other stakeholders in order to explore all options. A formal decision is yet to be made,” says Hilde Merete Aasheim, executive vice president of Hydro’s Aluminium Metal business area.
“If we reduce production further, the electrolysis pots will be shut down and preserved in a way that enables a possible restart, should improved future market and framework conditions allow,” says Aasheim.
Management at Neuss has started negotiations with the local works council in order to find a solution for employees that would be affected by a capacity curtailment. The plant has 650 employees.
A controlled capacity reduction making the plant ready for mothballing would take approximately two months. The fundamental reasons for the possible capacity reductions are mainly high German power prices and the weak global aluminium market.
If conditions do not improve significantly, the plant will stop all production of primary aluminium when the last cell is mothballed. The electrolysis would then effectively be closed, and as a consequence a closure of the carbon plant would follow.
In case of a full closure of the Neuss primary production plant, the casthouse would continue remelting operations to serve Hydro’s own downstream operations in the region and the adjacent Alunorf Rolling Mill, in which Hydro owns 50 percent.