Fuel-Energy Minister of Ukraine Yuri Prodan believes that owners of the Zaporizhzhya Alumina and Aluminium Complex (ZAlK OJSC) must transfer the enterprise to the state as they are unable to properly manage it.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, he claimed this to a press conference on Tuesday.
As of today, the enterprise has accumulated a 41 million hryvnias debt to the state for electricity, and was forced to suspend the production, The Minister stressed that.
“If the owners cannot solve [the problem - UNIAN], they must merely give the enterprise to the state. Figures speak for themselves. Instead of introducing energy-saving and energy-efficient technologies and instead of cutting expenses, today, as I understand, the owners are focusing upon receiving super-profits. And if the enterprise does not yield any super-profits, it is closed down”, Yuri Prodan said. He added that at present he cannot forecast what the state will do with the enterprise.
As UNIAN reported earlier, United Company RUSAL said on Monday it had suspended production at the Zaporizhzhya Alumina and Aluminium Complex in Ukraine because current metal prices made the plant unprofitable.
The complex produces 113,000 tonnes of primary aluminium and 265,000 tonnes of alumina a year.
The world`s largest aluminium and alumina producer said the cost of electricity at the complex had jumped in the past two years and now accounted for about 48 percent of output costs.
"The unwillingness of the government to solve the issue of energy tariffs, leading to rapidly increasing electricity costs on the local market, as well as the slowing growth of global demand for aluminium, are the main motives for the move," RUSAL said in a statement.
