Another European aluminum smelter is closing, in a fresh sign of the damage wrought by an energy crisis that’s hammered the region’s industrial economy and crimped supplies of critical raw materials.

While power prices have retreated sharply from last year’s peaks, Speira Gmbh will shut its Rheinwork plant in Germany this year due to challenges in the energy market, the company said Thursday. That follows a 50% cut in aluminum production announced in September as soaring power and gas prices plunged Europe’s energy-intensive metals industry into an existential crisis.

Some smelters have been ramping back up in recent weeks, but the Speira shutdown is the latest sign of the obstacles politicians face as they seek to prevent a further wave of deindustrialization. They are also looking to shore up local supplies of critical industrial raw materials as global supply chains become more fragile.

Aluminum is one of the most energy intensive metals to produce, and European production capacity has fallen by more than half since the start of the energy crisis. Many plants have dialed back production, but others including Norsk Hydro ASA’s Slovalco plant in Slovakia and Alcoa Corp.’s San Ciprian plant in Spain have stopped producing entirely.

Like those plants, the Speira smelter will be placed on long-term care and maintenance, and could reopen eventually if the economics improve, a spokesman for the company said by phone. Yet restarting a smelter is slow and costly, and some plants in the region that closed in prior downturns have never reopened.