Romanian aluminium producer shuts down alumina refinery on “prohibitive” energy prices

Romanian company Alro (BVB: ALR), one of the largest vertically integrated aluminium producers in Europe by production capacity, announced that due to the high costs and scarce availability of energy, it has to change its strategy of being vertically integrated and adapt to the new and challenging context by temporarily shutting down its alumina production facility based in Tulcea.

Alum, like other energy-intensive companies, are the first to be shut down in case of natural gas or electricity shortage, and in this regard, an early decision taken by the company itself consolidates the energy system’s sustainability.

“Specifically, the alumina produced by Alum [part of Alro Group] would reach a cost of more than 900 USD/tonne, while the price of alumina on the international markets is around 500 USD/tonne. The cost of energy used for producing alumina is notably high, reaching approximately 500 USD/tonne in 2022”, said Gheorghe Dobra, CEO of Alro and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alum.

In this context, Alro’s management proposed for the approval of the General Meeting of Shareholders, which will take place on July 29, the temporary suspension of Alum’s activity, effective August 1, for an estimated period of 17 months, while keeping the key specialists from all plant departments that will prepare for the resumption of production when the evolution of energy product prices will allow it.

Alum will continue to perform R&D activities and alumina logistics operations and start actions to repair and revamp its equipment to be ready for a quick restart of alumina production when the market allows.

Alro is a subsidiary of Vimetco PLC (Republic of Cyprus), a global, vertically-integrated primary and processed aluminium producer.

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