Alcan production cut by one-third

THE UK's largest aluminium plant will continue to operate at two-thirds of its full capacity for the foreseeable future, despite hopes it would return to full production last month. Alcan’s aluminium plant at Lynemouth, Northumberland, reduced production last November and had hoped to be operating at full capacity by April, but the company now says it is unable to say when normal working will resume. In recent weeks, it has terminated the employment of 30 contract workers. To date, it has not axed any full-time posts and says it is pulling out all the stops to ensure it can maintain that position. Late last year Alcan said it had shut 128 of its 352 aluminium smelting pots and did not expect to reopen them until “the second quarter” of next year. A spokesman for Alcan last night said: “The market position has not changed a great deal and we are continuing to monitor to our production requirements on an on-going basis. It makes good business sense to continue on that basis for the time being. “We are looking to get full production back on line, but at this stage we cannot say when that will be. “As a result, we have had to cut back on our contract workers and they are now down by about 30, but there has been no impact on the Alcan staff headcount. We have to keep all our options open but we continue to take a long-term view.” The Lynemouth plant axed 13 posts last year through voluntary redundancy, leaving it with a workforce of 650. Rio Tinto Alcan, which owns the plant near Ashington, said last December it planned to axe 14,000 of its 97,000 posts worldwide to cut costs as demand fell. It said 1,100 jobs would be lost in its aluminium business, but so far the Lynemouth plant has avoided any cuts stemming from this rationalisation. Alcan Aluminium UK corporate affairs director John McCabe said earlier: “Despite the uncertainty caused by the global economic downturn, the workforce at Lynemouth has responded magnificently. Naturally, there is great relief that jobs at Lynemouth will not be cut as part of Rio Tinto’s response to the current market situation.” Staff who would have been employed manufacturing aluminium are now involved in cleaning and maintenance work. source：www.nebusiness.co.uk