Alcoa to curb output at Spain aluminium plant

High maintainance: Alcoa employees load aluminum billets onto a truck in a production plant in South Carolina. A surge in energy prices have forced the company to half production at its plant in Spain. — Bloomberg

LONDON: Alcoa Corp is set to halt primary aluminium production at its plant in Spain for two years, the latest casualty of soaring energy prices in Europe.

The curbs at Europe’s second-largest aluminium plant come after energy costs spiked to fresh records last week, putting heavy industries under increasing financial strain. Aluminium Dunkerque Industries France, the region’s top smelter of the metal, trimmed output earlier this month.