Norsk Hydro Announces Plans For First U.S. Plant

Hydro Aluminum Metal Products, a division of Norway-based Norsk Hydro, announced its plans to build its first aluminum remelt plant in the U.S. The $33 million plant, which is expected to be in operation in Henderson, Ky. in 2001, will have an initial capacity of 90, 000 tons. Jim Walters, president of Hydro Aluminum Louisville Inc., is responsible for Hydro Aluminum Metal Products in North America. He says that the plant will fill the unmet demand for billet in the U.S. market, improve recycling efforts, and provide greater flexibility and shorter lead times for customers. Norsk Hydro, which has been doing business with U.S. companies since 1986, handles a total capacity of 400,000 tons of billet a year in its European plants. Norsk Hydro is Norway's largest public company and the world's largest supplier of billet.