Hydro brings down the capacity of the primary aluminium production at the Slovalco plant in Slovakia due to high electricity prices

Hydro brings down the capacity of the primary aluminium production at the Slovalco plant in Slovakia due to high electricity prices

The Board of Directors at Hydro’s majority-owned Slovalco primary aluminium plant in Slovakia has decided a further curtailment of primary aluminium production at the plant.

(PRESS RELEASE) OSLO, 30-Dec-2021 — /EuropaWire/ — Hydro (OTCMKTS: NHYDY), a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company committed to a sustainable future, has announced the decision to further curtail primary aluminium production at Hydro’s majority-owned Slovalco primary aluminium plant in Slovakia. The move will bring production down to around 60 percent 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 percent by 31 December. Further curtailment will start at the end of January 2022. A further reduction of capacity down to 60 percent corresponds to an additional annual reduction of 35 000 tons 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 approx 250,000 tonnes.

Media contact:

Kristin Karlstad
Head of Communication & Public Affairs, Hydro Aluminium Metal

+47 99 22 66 04
kristin.karlstad@hydro.com

SOURCE: Norsk Hydro ASA