Slovenia's Talum shuts down its primary aluminium production

The Slovenian aluminium company Talum will shut down its remaining aluminium electrolytic furnaces in April. Talum plans to shut down its remaining aluminium electrolytic furnaces in April after nearly 60 years of producing primary aluminium. The Kidričevo-based company has recently switched to aluminium processing and other more lucrative activities.

The rapid rise of energy prices forced the Slovenian producer Talum to cut its primary aluminium production to around 20 per cent of its capacity in 2022.

Electricity prices in Europe have increased tenfold since the beginning of 2021. Primary aluminium production is highly energy intensive, making production at some sites unviable.

The Slovenian aluminium producer ranked among the top 10 exporters in the nation and has been producing 50,000 tonnes of primary aluminium per annum and more than 110,000 tonnes of commodity production of aluminium products annually.

AlCircle’s recently published industry-focused report, “Global Aluminium Industry Outlook 2023”, reveals that primary aluminium production in Western Europe declined by about 12.6% and stood at about 2.9 MT in 2022. However, many aluminium smelters in Western Europe shut down production recently due to high power costs.