Alcoa Inc. (AA.N) reported that the company will continue discussing ways to resolve energy costs at its aluminum smelters in Italy and will not curtail its two plants there on Feb. 6 as previously announced.

The press release is quoted as saying:

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is battling to control rising unemployment and faces important regional elections in March, wrote a letter to Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld last Friday asking him to wait until the European Commission studies the situation before shutting the smelters on Feb. 6.

Click here to access the entire press release ^[1]