The full operating costs of production at all Western world aluminium smelters have been reviewed in terms of the fixed and the variable costs of aluminium smelting.The true variable costs of production,or the avoidable costs,represent the short-term costs that an aluminium smelter is no longer obligated to pay immediately upon curtailing any ouput on a temporary basis.This provides a guideline to those smelters which are most at risk to benefit from closing some or all of their capacity if prices fall below a certain level.This paper describes the procedure for determining avoidable costs,and presents industry-wide results.An avoidable cost schedule is established which represents,in essence,the industry shut-down curve.
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