The decision will bring production down to around 60% of capacity and comes in response to very high electricity prices showing no sign of improvement in the short term.

Slovalco is currently in the process of executing a previous decision to curtail production down to 80% by December 31. Further curtailment will start at the end of January 2022. A further reduction of capacity down to 60% corresponds to an additional annual reduction of 35,000 tonnes of production.

The curtailment decision will affect primary foundry alloy volumes at Slovalco. Customer commitments will be fulfilled from Hydro’s Norwegian production system. Slovalco’s remelting operation is not affected by the curtailment. Slovalco will continue to monitor the situation closely in the coming weeks and months.

Slovalco is a fully consolidated aluminium smelter in Hydro, owned 55.3% by Hydro Aluminium AS and 44.7% by Penta Investments Group. Slovalco has an annual production capacity of 175,000 tonnes of primary aluminium and a casthouse capacity of approximately 250,000 tonnes.