Aluminum producer Alcoa has said it will curtail production and cut some 13,500 jobs, or 13% of its global workforce, to save cash and reduce costs in the current economic downturn.
Alcoa has two plants in Ireland, in Dublin and Dundalk. The Dublin plant is involved in the building product business and a US spokesman for Alcoa said it has yet to be determined how the announced cuts will affect it.
The Dundalk plant is part of Alcoa's Electrical and Electronic Systems unit, which it has confirmed it will sell. It employs about 70 people.
The company said it was reducing its smelting output by 750,000 tonnes a year, which is approximately 18% of total primary aluminum output, and selling four non-core businesses.
It is also cutting an additional 1,700 contractor positions and freezing salaries and hiring. It is reducing 2009 capital expenditures by 50%, Alcoa said.
'These are extraordinary times, requiring speed and decisiveness to address the current economic downturn, and flexibility and foresight to be prepared for future uncertainties in our markets,' President and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said.
Alcoa said it also intends to divest four non-core downstream businesses: Electrical and Electronic Systems; Global Foil; Cast Auto Wheels; and Transportation Products Europe.
The businesses had 2008 combined revenues of $1.8 billion and an estimated after-tax operating loss of about $105 million. Expected net proceeds for the divestitures are estimated to be approximately $100 million.
The price of aluminum has slumped some 50% since peaking at $3,380 per tonne last July as the global economic downturn has hit demand for the metal which is used for aircraft and auto bodies and products such as kitchen foil and beverage cans.
