The company is planning to shut down its Hannover land high voltage (LHV) plant in Germany in response to weak European demand.
February 27, 2019
There is no set timeframe for the shutdown as Nexans is in talks with the unions on the restructuring and the consultation process is expected to last several months. Nexans’ plan to shut down copper cable production in Germany has caused concern in the industry, with multiple sources suggesting the group is cutting overall production in Europe.
As reported in a leading daily, the weakness of organic growth in LHV demand through a lack of new projects in Europe caused capacity utilization rates at the Nexans European plants to be very low throughout 2018. Nexans also faced postponement of some submarine high voltage projects, which further compounded lower than expected LHV sales in 2018.
However, the firm stated that it will not be cutting its grade-A copper cathode consumption this year, despite the planned plant closure in Hannover.
