Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro has signed an agreement to increase its ownership stake in the Taiwan remelt plant Famco from currently 45 percent to a controlling majority stake.

Famco, located in the Yunlin Industrial Estate in Yunlin County, is an aluminium remelt plant with an initial annual production capacity of about 75,000 tons of extrusion ingot.

“This investment will strengthen Hydro’s position in the Asian aluminium market. With local knowledge and Hydro’s global technology support, we are confident Famco will serve our customers well,” says Kjetil Ebbesberg, Excutive Vice President of Hydro's Metal Markets business area.

Taiwan is the third-largest extrusion market in Asia, with a total extrusion ingot consumption of about 400,000 tons – and the market is expected to show a healthy growth.

Hydro is currently supplying this market from its primary production plants in Australia and Qatar and is a full service provider to the Taiwanese extrusion market. The investment mainly serves the Taiwanese market, but is also a source for export to regional markets outside Taiwan. The plant delivers high-quality products meeting Hydro’s standards.

Hydro says in a press release that the company is committed to further expanding its activity in Asia in the years to come, and that the Qatalum primary aluminium smelter in Qatar, which started end of last year, and the further development of Famco will facilitate this ambition.

Hydro is a global supplier of aluminium metal and aluminium products, the third-largest integrated aluminium supplier in the world.

(Press release)

Rolleiv Solholm