Campine year results 2020

2020: Resilience in the 2nd year-half

As most manufacturing companies, Campine did not escape the impact of the worldwide Corona pandemic in 2020. By focusing on essential activities, seizing some alternative sales opportunities and a good performance in the 2^nd year-half, Campine was able to close the year with a moderate result. The pandemic had its main negative influence in the first semester.

The demand in the Specialty Chemicals division started declining as from April onwards. In the 2^nd quarter, we realised 25% less sales volumes compared to a normal year. This made us decide to close the department during the month of May. We were however successful to compensate the volume loss completely in the 2^nd semester. The main financial impact in this division was the dramatic price reduction for antimony products. The price of antimony metal reached a low of 5,000 $/ton in the summer as a result of a worldwide collapse in demand. Towards yearend, we experienced an opposite evolution. Related to continued infection issues in mines, stocks of antimony ores, concentrates and metal started to get depleted resulting in a fierce price uptake (see further in perspectives 2021).

The drop in demand in the Metals Recycling division already occurred in March. Campine’s lead alloys are mainly used for the manufacturing of car batteries, but as the automotive industry closed down many assembly lines, demand dropped by 50%. We were able to compensate a part of the lowered industrial volumes by selling to metal traders. However, during April the availability of scrap batteries became an issue as many partners in this supply chain also had to close their doors. We decided therefore mid-May to close our factory for 5 weeks, during which we performed an advanced yearly maintenance. By that time lead LME prices had declined to a low beneath € 1,500/ton. From June onwards, the scrap battery supply chain started to rebuild and the demand for lead slowly resumed to normal levels. Lead LME prices started to recover and the 2^nd half of the year came off as relatively normal.

The implementation of measures to prevent the Corona virus to spread had a severe impact on the way we used to work and collaborate. Campine combined (and continues to use) a wide variety of measures, such as working from home and the remote management of customer relations, whilst continuing manufacturing on its site in Beerse. Seen the use of hazardous materials and our Seveso status, our employees are used to wear protective gear, including dust masks and even full facemasks. The implementation of additional measures related to Corona was therefore only a small step to take.