Ormet swings to $1.1 mil loss in Q1 from profit a year ago

摘要

US aluminum producer Ormet Corp.nreported a loss of $1.1 million in the firstnthree months of 2012, down from netnincome of $5.5 million in the first quarternof 2011, largely due to lower realized pricesnfor its metal and higher production costs.nNet sales increased, however, to $138.5nmillion from $124.2 million a year ago,nand the company said most of the outputnfrom its 260,000 mt/year Hannibal, Ohio,nsmelter is sold through March 31, 2015,nto various commodity trading customers.nShipments in Q1 rose to 67,981 mt fromn58,079 mt for the same period of 2011nas Ormet ramped up production from twonpotlines restarted last year. Toll volume innQ1 2012 was 46,418 mt, up from 32,787nmt in the year-ago period. But selling pricesnrelated to non-toll shipments fell by $230mt in the first three months of this year,ncompared with the same quarter in 2011.nToll selling prices also declined by $176mt in Q1 2012 from the same period anyear earlier. Meanwhile, the cost of salesnclimbed because of higher production volumesnand increased unit costs for electricity,nalumina and carbon anodes. Electricitynprices increased to $38.69/MWh for thenfirst three months of 2012, versus $32.80MWh in the same period of 2011.