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Alcoa to curtail smelting, refining capacity to drive upstream competitiveness

Lightweight metals producer Alcoa has announced it is curtailing uncompetitive smelting and refining capacity to ensure continued competitiveness amid prevailing market conditions. The company will reduce aluminum smelting capacity by 503,000 metric tons and alumina refining capacity by 1.2 million metric tons. The curtailments will begin in Q4 2015 and end in Q1 2016.

The reductions will help improve the cost position of the upstream business and ensure competitiveness in a lower pricing environment, including a 30 percent drop in the Midwest transaction aluminum price year-to-date. With this action, Alcoa has closed, divested, or curtailed 45 percent of total smelting operating capacity since 2007.

In its aluminum business, Alcoa will idle the Intalco and Wenatchee primary aluminum smelters in Washington state and the Massena West smelter in New York. The casthouses at Intalco and Massena West, which produce value-added shaped products, will continue to operate. The company will close the New York Massena East smelter permanently. The Alcoa Forgings and Extrusions facility in Massena is unaffected.

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

The company will separate into two publicly traded companies in the second half of 2016: an upstream-focused company including its mining, refining, smelting, energy, and casting businesses, and a value-added company including its global rolled products, engineered products, and transportation and construction businesses.