Europe Loses Another Smelter as Energy Crisis Leaves Deep Scars

Source: Bloomberg

Mark Burton

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Another European aluminum smelter is closing, in a fresh sign of the damage wrought by an energy crisis that's hammered the region's industrial economy and crimped supplies of critical raw materials.

While power prices have retreated sharply from last year's peaks, Speira Gmbh will shut its Rheinwork plant in Germany this year due to challenges in the energy market, the company said Thursday. That follows a 50% cut in aluminum production announced in September as soaring power and gas prices plunged Europe's energy-intensive metals industry into an existential crisis.