Speira to close its remaining aluminium smelting operations at the Rheinwerk plant in H2 2023

Germany's Speira, a leading global recycler and manufacturer of advanced aluminium rolled products, announced on Thursday, March 9, that it would shut its smelting operations at the Rheinwerk plant due to high energy prices.

The news came after the company said in an official statement, "Speira decided to fully ramp down the smelting operations in Rheinwerk." This decision followed the company's production cut to half last year.

Despite the improvement of the energy crisis in West Europe, which began in 2021, power-intensive industries like aluminium are still affected. In 2022, the crisis was at its worst, resulting in a 12.5 per cent drop in aluminium output in the region.

However, Speira also announced on the same day that it would invest 30 million euros ($32 million) in enhancing recycling capacity at the Rheinwerk plant.

Speira cut 50 per cent of aluminium production at the plant in October 2022, and closing the remaining 70,000 tonnes of liquid aluminium production at Rheinwerk in the second half of 2023 would turn the firm into an aluminium rolling and recycling company.

The shutdown of Speira's smelting operation at Rheinwerk will create a job loss of about 300 workers.

Production costs are still high for many European smelters, while aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange have decreased by 37 per cent since they peaked a year ago.