OSLO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Norwegian industrial group Norsk Hydro said on Wednesday that it would close an aluminium extrusion plant in Scotland due to overcapacity in the UK market.
The metals, energy and fertilisers group did not give production figures for the Sanquhar plant, but said it would transfer the volume to its two other UK extrusion sites at Bedwas in Wales and Birtley in County Durham by August.
"The closure results from a particularly difficult period for all UK-based extruders which has seen the number of working presses in the UK falling from 49 to 33 over the past 10 years," Norsk Hydro said in a statement.
The company had agreed with the plant's 76 employees on the closure and a redundancy package, and said it would try to relocate an unspecified number of staff to other sites or to provide re-employment and retraining support for them.
Norsk Hydro is Europe's biggest supplier of aluminium extrusions and the world's third largest integrated aluminium producer after U.S. Alcoa and Canada's Alcan .