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Alcoa Corp., a leading aluminum producer in the US, said it will further reduce the capacity at its San Ciprián alumina refinery in Spain to 50%-60% of its 1.6 million tons of annual capacity over the next two months. The adjustment of the operating rate included a 15% production cut announced earlier in July.

With the initial 15% production reduction, Alcoa expected the refinery to have a loss of around US$75 million in the third quarter. Based on the current natural gas prices in Spain, the refinery’s losses would decrease by about one third if operating at 50% of its capacity.

Due to the high energy costs in recent years, Alcoa has been hit hard. Europe is now facing the same difficulty as the energy crisis largely raised the production costs to levels that are not unfavorable to enterprises’ development.