US secondary aluminum producer Beck Aluminum Alloys has shut one of two furnaces at its Racine plant due to tight margins, a company source said Monday.
The Beck source said the plant will operate only one of its furnaces until scrap spreads improve. The furnace has a capacity of 160,000 lbs/year.
"The scrap is not there to operate it effectively and we are seeing some discounting," he said. "There is no reason to chase scrap and over pay and then discount the ingot sale."
Both Spectro Alloys and Bermco last month said they would be shutting furnaces because of tight margins as well. At least two other smelters were reported to have taken capacity offline, but declined to go on record.
The Platts A380 price was set Monday at $1.04-1.05/lb, while the Platts high-grade auto shreds assessment was 82-84 cents/lb, equating to a 21.5-cent margin.
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