June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Trimet Aluminium AG, Germany’s largest producer of the metal, started increasing production last month on expectations that demand will rebound.
The company closed two of three pot lines in November and January at its 170,000 metric-ton-a-year plant in Essen, western Germany, according to Chief Executive Officer Heinz-Peter Schlueter.
“We are going back to two-thirds of production due to consumer demand,” Schlueter said by telephone today from Essen.
Aluminum has dropped 4.1 percent this year, the only decline among the six main metals traded on the London Metal Exchange. The lightweight metal, used in cans and airplanes, has declined for two consecutive years as supply outpaced demand. Stockpiles in warehouses monitored by the
LME have almost quadrupled in a year to a record 4.2 million tons.
Trimet’s customers include rolling and extrusion mills making products for the auto, construction and packaging industries. The company also has a 130,000 ton-a-year plant in Hamburg, northern Germany, where output remains 30 percent below capacity, Schlueter said.
Schlueter’s comments contrast with those of Svein Richard Brandtzaeg, CEO of Norsk Hydro ASA, Europe’s third-largest aluminum company. In an interview last week, he said the industry needed to cut more production to return the market to normality. Brandtzaeg estimated the industry’s overcapacity at about 3.5 million tons.
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