"Given the sharp decline in metal prices and increasingly soft demand in our key markets, we are stopping all non-critical capital projects, making targeted reductions to match market conditions and are adjusting our manufacturing capacity to meet demand in rapidly changing upstream and downstream markets," chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld said.

... The latest results included a US4c charge, which Alcoa disclosed last month. The company said it would lay off about 660 people by the end of the year at its Rockdale, Texas operations - essentially closing operations there - due to power-supply problems and decreasing demand for aluminium. The company said today it was halting production at the site. The largest US aluminium producer reported net income of $US268 million ($380 million), or US33 cents a share, down from $US555 million, or US63c a share, a year ago.