Alcoa shutdowns won’t affect Canadian operations

PITTSBURGH—Alcoa Inc. is shuttering three European aluminum smelters as part of its plan to cut global smelting capacity by 12 per cent.

The company says it’s closing smelters in Portovesme, Italy and two plants in La CoruIna and Aviles, Spain by 2013—plants the company says are among the highest-cost operations in its arsenal.

Together the smelters employ about 1,500 people.

Last week, the company announced it was recuding capacity by 290,000 tonnes, closing a smelter in Alcoa, Tenn and shuttering two of its six idle metal production lines in Rockdale, Tex.

The streamlining does not affect Alcoa's Canadian operations, where the company is growing its production and investing billions of dollars to upgrade its three smelters in Quebec.

At Portovesme, Alcoa says it’s begun consulting with unions to permanently close the plant, while the Spanish cuts will be partial and temporary.

Aluminum prices have fallen by about one-fourth since April due to weak demand in construction, slower growth in China and uncertainty about the direction of Europe's economy.

The plan will modernize Alcoa's smelter in Baie Comeau, Que., for $1.2 billion with investments of $300 million at its Becancour and Deschambault smelters in the province.

The aluminum-giant’s Canadian plan will increase production capacity by 120,000 tonnes per year.

Alcoa Canada employs 3,900 people, with major operations in Quebec, where the company an annual production capacity of nearly one million tonnes of ingots, castings, billets and aluminum rods.

Montreal-based Alcoa Canada also operates processing plants for the aerospace, automobile and construction industries in Quebec and Ontario.

The U.S. parent company employs 61,000 people around the world.