Hydro to shut down French and UK extrusion plants

Hydro, Norwegian aluminium manufacturer, has confirmed the closure of two of its manufacturing sites. It said the decision was made in response to headwinds in the downstream aluminium market, with weak demand and compressed recycling margins.

It will close its Luce, France anodising facility and its Birtley, UK extrusion sites.

It will also cut an additional 30,000 tonnes of recycling capacity in Puget, France. Decommissioning has already begun at the Birtley site which will close by the end of June. The Luce site will be decommissioned by September.

In a financial note to investors it warned of potentially more closures in the near future. According to its website, the Luce facility employs 45 people and began production in 1959.  It makes approximately 62,000 mt/year of recycled aluminium extrusion ingot and specialises in building and construction, transportation and automotive products.

Hydro said: “Ongoing weak market activity continues to tighten aluminium scrap supply, pressuring recycling margins and reducing re-melt production in Hydro Extrusions and aluminium metal recycling.

“In response to the cyclical downturn, Hydro has committed to cutting hot metal costs by US$ 20–30 per tonne by 2030 in recycling.

“These efforts are accelerating in aluminium metal recycling, with approximately one-third of the targeted 2030 cost reductions expected to be realised already in 2025, just one year into the programme.”

In its First Quarter 2025 financial results the company said its earnings before tax (Ebita) was down by 18.3% from  NOK 1,437 million to NOK 1,174 million.  It said the decrease was driven by lower extrusion sales volumes and decreased margins from recyclers.

European extrusion demand is estimated to have decreased 1% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same quarter last year, but increased 16% compared to the fourth quarter 2024 partly driven by seasonality.