“Over the past 20 years, we invested more than $530 million in Alro’s development and transformation and we are committed to continue on this path. While we temporarily stopped the production of alumina, based on economic factors, decided to sell the bauxite business for the same reasons, and reduced the electrolytic aluminum production, we invested in our eco-recycling facility, to support the production of aluminum with low electricity input,” said Marian Nastase, chairman of the board of directors of Alro.
The group’s consolidated sales in the first half of 2023 stood at RON1.55 billion, 25% lower than in the same time last year, according to the report to the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The decrease is due, on the one hand, to the lower London Metal Exchange quotation, which decreased by more than $700/ton compared to the similar period of last year. On the other hand, 2023 has seen a slow-down in sales and low demand in many industrial sectors.
The group continued its investments in increasing the energy efficiency and, following a $11 million investment in its eco-recycling facility, it started up the second double chamber furnace, specialized in recycling scrap purchased from the dedicated market, and by the end of the year the (third) furnace will be launched in production, so that by the end of 2023 the recycling capacity will be increased to 100,000 tpa.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)