German Government Boosts "Production of Eco-friendly Non-ferrous Metals"

TRIMET ALUMINIUM AG has just earned a new reward for its achievements in environmental protection. For the second quarter of 2009, the German government has approved a stimulus package for the corporation as part of a special fund included in the government’s Konjunkturpaket 2, or second recovery package. Barring its rejection by the EU government in Brussels, the package would boost the eco-friendly production of non-ferrous metals at aluminum plants and other manufacturing sites throughout Germany.

In its quest to lay open the complex reasons and contexts behind the government decision, TRIMET held a press conference at its own Kurt-Ehrke-Haus in the city of Essen. At the corporation’s request, Rolf Hempelmann, the SPD’s Parliamentary Spokesman on Energy Policy, shed light on the arguments and decision-making processes that led the German parliament to pass the stimulus package. Facing 11 journalists from regional, business and technical media outlets, TRIMET CEO Heinz-Peter Schlüter and Heribert Hauck, Director of Energy Management at TRIMET, stressed the significance for Germany’s energy-intensive industry of being able to rely on dependable power sources at economically feasible prices over the long run. Although the government’s short-term stimulus was welcomed, there was also a consensus that it was still a far cry from fair utility prices to keep the industry competitive in Europe, maximum energy efficiency in production processes notwithstanding. Commenting on market demands for reliability, Mr. Schlüter said, “Our customers, especially the automotive industry, are interested in forming strategic, long-term partnerships with us, given the intensified use of aluminum parts in automobiles, which makes perfect sense in ecological terms. When we talk about environmental protection, our goal has to be to cut fuel consumption by cutting vehicle weight, especially when it comes to vehicle fleets. For TRIMET, it all comes down to delivery and pricing conditions we can’t possibly meet if we have no way of long-term planning stability for ourselves. Nota bene: planning stability in the production of aluminum goes hand in hand with planning stability in the feasible supply of this raw material called electricity.”