Winter Park, Florida 24/11/2015 - Alcoa will keep its Massena West primary aluminium smelter in New York open after receiving $38 million in incentives from the state, the company said.
On November 2, Alcoa said it planned on idling the 130,000-tonne-per-year Massena West smelter in the first quarter due to a 30-percent year-to-date drop in the Midwest transaction aluminium price. But that announcement was met with serious resistance from New York governor Andrew Cuomo and US senator Chuck Schumer, who were concerned about the impact that mass lay-offs would have on the local community.
“Today’s agreement helps better position the smelter in light of prevailing market conditions, providing this facility a bridge to a stronger commodity market and maintaining jobs in the North Country. We remain focused on ensuring our upstream business is well-positioned to succeed throughout the cycle," Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said in a statement.
The deal requires that Alcoa maintain 600 jobs at the Massena plant until at least March 2019. If Alcoa fails to do so, it will have to pay $40 million in penalties to the state.
Alcoa will, however, continue with its other previously announced curtailments at the Intalco and Wenatchee primary aluminium smelters in Washington, which have combined capacity of 370,000 tonnes per year, the company said.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)