World leading producer of aluminium Rusal says it will reduce production with 275,000 tons following shrinking international demands. As much as 150,000 tons will be cut already in the course of 2012, the company informs in a press release. Among the plants which now are threatened by closure is the Nadvoitsy aluminium plant in the Republic of Karelia, as well as three other Rusal plants.
The plant located about 200 km north of the regional capital of Petrozavodsk employs about 1000 people. It is a cornerstone employer in Nadvoitsy, a town with a population of about 8000. The closure of the plant would trigger a serious social and economic situation in the town, which has little alternative employment sources.
The Nadvoitsy situation is now on the table of both regional Governor Aleksandr Khudilainen and the federal authorities. According to the governor, the Russian Presidential administration has now ”taken control over the issue”, while Rusal owner Oleg Deripaska has promised to introduce alternative production at the plant.
”We will not give up Nadvoitsy”, Khudilainen underlines in a press release.
The Nadvoitsy today plant has an annual production capacity of 81,000 tons of primary aluminium. Built in 1954, it has over the last years undergone a major modernization of production technologies, Rusal informs on its website.
