Continuous Cast Metals & Alloys (CCMA) is closing its ferrosilicon production operations on July 1, 2020 with an unknown restart outlook due to unfavorable market conditions.
CCMA’s closing will result in the layoff of 80 employees in the Calvert City, Kentucky facility, which represents 77pc of CCMA’s total workforce.
The ferrosilicon industry faced difficult market conditions over the past year because of unfairly traded low-cost imports that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company stated that the low import prices used in the US price indexes and have substantially affected the business and financial position of US producers. Through the pandemic, low-cost imports pushed prices even lower driving them the cost of ferrosilicon production in the US.
COVID-19 resulted in many ferrosilicon customers in the US reducing capacity utilization or shutting down, which has caused a drastic reduction in raw materials demand.
Unlike steel, which is covered by Section 232 and other anti-dumping and circumvention initiatives, the US ferroalloys industry does not have protections against unfairly priced imports.
CCMA is a producer and distributor of high-grade ferrosilicon alloys through Felman Trading Americas. Ferrosilicon alloys are incorporated in the manufacturing of iron and steel products.
The entity has an annual production capacity of 100,000mt of various types of ferrosilicon. The company serves clients throughout North and South America.