Michael Bless, Century’s chief executive officer, said that the company’s order intake has begun to improve in Q4 and product premiums are rebounding to levels seen in early 2020.
During Q3 2020, the company shipped 210,309mt of aluminum products from its facilities in the US and Europe up 6pc from 198,543mt in metal shipments in the same quarter last year. However, due to lower LME Aluminium prices, Century’s net sales fell by 11.7pc to $392.2mn, compared with $438mn in the same quarter last year.
The company’s Goose Creek aluminum smelter is currently idle due to a legal tiff with the local authorities over the power supply. Bless noted that this predicament puts the facility is at risk of “full curtailment” by the end of Q4.
Century Aluminum posted a net loss of $58.2mn in the third quarter of this year, compared with a loss of $20.7mn in Q3 2019. The company’s adjusted EBITDA for the period amounted to a negative $31.4mn, compared with an EBITDA loss of $12.2mn in the prior year.