Speira to curtail 50% of aluminium smelter production at Rheinwerk plant; cites high energy costs

The curtailment will begin from October 2022 and means that output from the smelter will be reduced to 70,000 tonnes per year.

“We and many other European aluminium smelters are facing similar challenges. Energy prices have gone too high in the last months, and we don’t foresee a change in that trend in the near future,” Einar Glomnes, chief executive officer at Speira, said on Wednesday. “This development requires us to curtail 50% of our smelter production until further notice to sustain value for Speira”

The curtailment process is expected to be completed in November, and curtailed liquid production will be replaced by external metal supplies, the company added.

Speira operates seven manufacturing facilities in Germany and Norway, is a leading producer and recycler of advanced rolled aluminium products, and serves the automotive, packaging, printing, engineering, and building and construction industries.

This announcement is the most recent in a line of energy-related curtailments announced over recent weeks across the aluminium supply chain as European energy prices continue to soar.

Aluminium and value added product (VAP) premiums have been moving lower over recent weeks, due to pressure from increasingly bearish macro-economic sentiment, good availability of imported units and weak spot demand.

Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dp Rotterdam at $430-480 per tonne on Tuesday September 6, down from $450-500 per tonne one week earlier and falling from its recent record highs of $600-630 per tonne in May.

Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, ddp North Germany (Ruhr region) at $1,050-1,100 per tonne on Friday September 2, falling from $1,100-1,150 per tonne the previous week and down by 11% from $1,170-1,250 per tonne at the beginning of August.