European Energy Crisis Causes Major Aluminum Capacity Cuts

Soaring energy prices have prompted a wave of aluminum capacity cuts across Europe as smelters reel from sky-high gas and power prices while demand remains soft due to concerns about global economic growth, Standard Chartered said in a commodities report this week. Cutbacks and curtailments to Europe’s aluminum capacity began in October last year as power prices started surging. Since the end of 2021, cuts have been announced at smelters in Spain, Slovakia, Romania, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Montenegro, Norway, and a number of smelters in…