Alcoa idling 3 United States aluminum smelters as prices bite

The company in a news release said that 487 employees will be affected.

In its alumina business, Alcoa will partially curtail refining capacity at its Point Comfort, Texas, facility by about 1.2 million metric tons.

Mining Weekly reported that Alcoa (NYSE:AA) is reducing its aluminum smelting capacity by 503,000 tonnes and its refining capacity by 1.2 million tonnes, mainly at USA operations.

The company attributed the move to historically low aluminum prices and "to curtail uncompetitive smelting and refining capacity to ensure continued competitiveness amid prevailing market conditions".

North country residents and local officials are still reeling from the news that Alcoa will cut back its operations in Massena.

Alcoa chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld said the group had consistently taken decisive actions to create a commodity business that is positioned to succeed throughout the cycle.

Alcoa says upon implementation it will have curtailed or closed 673K metric tons of uncompetitive smelting capacity and 2.5M metric tons of uncompetitive refining capacity since its announced review of smelting and refining capacity in March. "We can't continue to promise these companies all these incentives from the state", Ritchie said Monday evening, "and then just turn around and let them walk away once the big profit margin's gone".

Alcoa has been aggressively reshaping its Upstream portfolio as part of a multi-year strategy to position itself as a low-priced global leader in alumina and aluminum production.

Alcoa said it will idle the potlines at its plant in Massena, known as the longest continuously operating aluminum smelter in the world.

"I also want to ensure that any unused power already allocated by the state to the Massena West plant will remain available to benefit the people of Massena and its surrounding area, instead of being redirected to another region", he said. And the company got cut-rate electricity from the New York Power Authority in exchange for maintaining jobs, according to North Country News.