ML employer forecasts a hit from COVID-19 pandemic

WIESBADEN, Germany — SGL Carbon announced Wednesday that the company was forecasting a larger decline in sales for 2020 than was originally projected. The forecasted results for fiscal year 2020 are unlikely to be achieved, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, said Raj Junginger, head of investor relations, in a press release.

In early March, SGL announced it was expecting total sales from both its carbon fiber and graphite materials divisions to fall 10-15 percent in 2020 to an estimated $1 billion from $1.2 billion in 2019. The largest decline was expected in graphite sales for batteries and semiconductors. That guidance did not include any potential business effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, because “the outbreak at that time was mainly restricted to China and Italy,” Junginger said.

According to the company’s early March forecast, the company had already idled two carbon fiber production lines to reduce costs, though it did not say where those production lines were.

SGL Carbon’s production plant in Moses Lake has five production lines, and it has a sixth line currently unfinished.

— Charles H. Featherstone