This Morning in Metals: Century Aluminum reports Q1 net loss of $2.7M

Century Aluminum reports quarterly loss

Century Aluminum reported a first-quarter net loss of $2.7 million and a 3% decline in net sales down to $421.2 million.

“Commodity prices have fallen at an unprecedented pace in reaction to the demand destruction caused by the health crisis,” CEO Michael Bless said. “In addition, degradation in the order books of certain customers has caused us to move our product mix to a higher proportion of standard products, thus lowering somewhat the average premium we receive. That said, our plants have maintained their production rates, and we continue to sell all of our metal essentially as it is cast; we have not observed a build of finished goods inventory and do not anticipate such a scenario. In addition, we are seeing meaningful reductions in the price of key inputs, including alumina, and wholesale electric power.”

U.S. Steel announces layoffs, idling at Mon Valley Works

U.S. Steel announced another round of layoffs, this time at its Mon Valley Works.
According to a Pittsburgh news report citing a U.S. Steel spokeswoman, the number of layoffs is expected to come in at around 2,700 workers.

China’s copper stocks plummet

Chinese copper stocks have fallen by their largest amount in 2 1/2 years, Reuters reported.
Improve metal purchase timing and mitigate price risk — trial MetalMiner’s monthly metal buying outlook
Copper stockpiles in SHFE warehouses dropped 36.6% in April, according to the report.