Company: CENX
Filing Date: 2025-03-03
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000949157-25-000024
Chunk: 20

Company: CENTURY ALUMINUM CO
Filing Date: 2025-03-03
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 20
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 of our outstanding indebtedness and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

We may be unable to continue to compete successfully in the markets in which we operate.

The global primary aluminum industry in which we operate is highly competitive. Aluminum also competes with other materials, such as steel, copper, plastics, composite materials and glass, among others, for various applications and uses. Many of our competitors are larger than we are and have greater financial and technical resources than we do. These larger competitors may be better able to withstand reductions in price or other adverse industry or economic conditions. Similarly, many of our competitors may receive various subsidies from local, state and federal governments and have vertically integrated upstream operations with resulting superior cost positions to ours and may be better able to withstand reductions in price or other adverse industry or economic conditions, including inflationary impacts. If we are not able to compete successfully, our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.

Curtailment of aluminum production at our facilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

The continued operation of our smelters depends on the market for primary aluminum and our underlying costs of production. There can be no assurance that future deterioration in the price of aluminum or increases in our costs of production, including power, will not result in additional production curtailments at our smelters.

Curtailing production requires us to incur substantial expenses, both at the time of the curtailment and on an ongoing basis. Our facilities are subject to contractual and other fixed costs that continue even if we curtail operations at these facilities. These costs reduce the cost saving advantages of curtailing unprofitable aluminum production. If we are unable to realize the intended cost saving effects of any production curtailment, we may have to seek bankruptcy protection or be forced to divest some or all of our assets. The process of restarting production following curtailment is also expensive, time consuming and labor-intensive and there is no guarantee that once a curtailment has occurred that the plant will ever return to operation. As a result, any decision to restart production would likely require market conditions significantly better than the market conditions at the time the decision to curtail was made. Any curtailments of our operations, or actions taken to seek bankruptcy protection or divest some or all of our assets, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and liquidity.