Ford Motor Co. is selling precious metals, including palladium, to reduce the company's stockpile, the automaker said in its annual report.
Ford lost $1 billion last year on palladium, which is used in catalytic converters, because of a combination of improving technology and plummeting prices.
``We have accordingly revised our stocking requirements and are in the process of reducing metals that are in excess of those stocking requirements,'' the company said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The price for palladium -- a soft metal used as a catalyst or in alloys with other metals -- dropped from the roughly $1,500 per troy ounce Ford paid to about $400 earlier this year. Associated Press