Reuters reported that Ormet Corporation laid off 20 workers at its Hannibal, Ohio smelter but would not say why.

A spokeswoman for the company said that approximately 20 people were laid off as of February 1, but there was no comment on the reason for the layoffs. They were not related to the WARN notice sent out last summer. She said that it is a separate layoff.

In July last year, the aluminium producer sent a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice to hourly and salaried employees at its Hannibal smelter letting them know there may be layoffs for up to 100 workers. In October, the aluminium company laid off 60 of the 100 workers mentioned in the WARN notice after trimming production to 4 potlines.

No further layoffs had been announced since then connected to the WARN notice. On Wednesday, no reason was given for the latest round of layoffs and the company would not say whether production would be affected by the latest dismissals.

Last year, when it cut output Ormet cited depressed aluminium market conditions. The global economic downturn has eaten into aluminium demand worldwide and as a result prices for the shiny metal.

(Sourced from Reuters)