The only aluminium producer in Slovakia, Slovalco in Žiar nad Hronom, has announced redundancies. The Ministry of Economy said that this is very bad news for an industrial country like Slovakia. The company's gradual production cuts and the current layoffs are a response to rising electricity prices, high prices for emission permits and low aluminium prices. The company's management is also announcing a complete shutdown of production. The firm has announced 300 redundancies out of a total of 450 employees, while the final number of employees who will lose their jobs is not yet definitive. The Ministry of Economic Affairs said that it had taken all steps to reduce the charges in the end-use energy prices that were within its remit. At the same time, it is aware that this was not sufficient given the demanding nature of production at the aluminium plant. It therefore proposed, as a further solution, a change in the compensation scheme for energy-intensive industry, as Slovalco had done, which would create conditions comparable to those of competitors in other European countries.
SOURCE: TASR
