The high electricity prices have found another victim in German industry. The aluminium producer Speira wants to completely discontinue its primary production - i.e. the production of aluminium from ore and not from aluminium scrap - in Neuss because it is no longer profitable due to energy costs. Last autumn, the company had already halved its metallurgical production in the "Rheinwerk". Capacity had been reduced from 140,000 to 70,000 tons per year. At that time, people had hoped for a rapid easing of tensions on the electricity market. Instead, production is now to be completely discontinued in the course of the second half of the year.

Helmut Bünder

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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Around 300 jobs at Rheinwerk are affected. For some of the employees, the works council hopes to find other positions in the Group, among other things by expanding recycling activities. Investments of around 30 million euros are planned for this purpose. For the rest, socially acceptable solutions are to be found.

Aluminium production requires an extremely large amount of electricity. In order to produce one ton of the light metal, around 14 megawatt hours of electricity are consumed in the melting furnace. Although electricity prices have fallen since last autumn, generation is still not economical. Essen-based Trimet has therefore also reduced its primary production by 60 percent. All in all, according to the industry association, German production of primary aluminium fell by around a third last year.

After the closure, Speira will have to buy all its raw aluminium requirements to supply its rolling mills. They use it to produce sheet metal for the automotive industry, packaging manufacturers and other industries.

Speira emerged from the former Norsk Hydro, which was acquired by the investment company KPS in 2021. The company has around 5000 employees, more than 4000 of them in Germany. It operates six production sites in Germany and holds a 50 percent stake in Alunorf, the largest aluminium rolling mill in the world, with around 2200 employees in Grevenbroich. There is also the headquarters of Speira.