Illustrative stock photo (source: TASR)
Another company has decided to limit its production, citing the high electricity prices.
About a week after the Žiar nad Hronom-based aluminium producer Slovalco announced cuts to production, idling 14 electrical furnaces at first and then an additional 11, the manufacturer of ferroalloys, OFZ from Oravský Podzámok (Žilina Region), decided on a similar step.
OFZ has shut down more than half of its furnaces due to jumps in the price of electricity on commodity exchanges, which exceeded €300 per MWh on October 5. A year ago, the price ranging between €45 and €50 per MWh.
The more than sixfold increase in prices in the past 12 months is devastating for the energy-intensive production of ferroalloys, the company said.
“The price of our products also increased in this period, but not at such a pace as energy prices,” said Branislav Klocok, managing director of OFZ, as quoted by the SITA newswire, calling an increase of €300 “an unprecedented extreme.”
Impacts on employment vague
The company had managed to bring production back to pre-pandemic levels recently. While in the summer, OFZ used almost 100 percent of its production capacity, now it had to idle four out of seven furnaces.
