Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro ASA announced this week that it will make deeper cuts to production at its primary aluminium plant in Slovakia due to sustained high prices for electricity.
Slovalko’s board of directors made the decision to reduce production to 60 percent of the plant’s nameplate capacity as it estimated that the high prices for power are not likely to abate any time soon. This latest round of cuts is equal to about 35 thousand metric tons per annum.
The aluminium plant is currently in the midst of carrying out a previous round of cuts that will have production lowered to 80 percent of its maximum. The latest round of production cuts will commence this month, said Hydro in a press release.
This round of aluminium production cuts will involve mostly the primary foundry alloy production at the site, with the slack in production to be picked up by Hydro’s operations in Norway. Slovalko said it would continue its remelting operations apace while it monitored developments going forward.
Hydro holds a 55.3-percent stake in Slovalko, which is a fully-integrated aluminium smelter. Penta Investments holds the remaining 44.7-percent stake. The site has a nameplate production capacity for primary aluminium of 175 thousand metric tons per annum and a 250 thousand metric tons per annum aluminium casthouse on site as well.