MADRID – Alcoa said on Wednesday it would close two of its three aluminium plants in Spain with a combined annual production of 180 000 metric tonnes, resulting in the lay off of almost 700 workers.
The Aviles and La Coruna plants were two of the least productive due to intrinsic structural problems such as inefficient technology and high fixed costs, Alcoa said in a statement.
"Those problems, together with external market factors such as overproduction in China, high raw material prices and energy costs, have generated significant losses in these two plants in the last two years," the company said.