Steel Mills
SSAB Americas Shipments Increase in Q4
Written by Sandy Williams
February 16, 2017
SSAB Americas posted strong sales and shipments in fourth quarter 1016. The segment, which includes the mills located in Mobile, Alabama and Montpelier, Iowa, shipped 502,000 tonnes in Q4, up 19 percent from the previous quarter and 15 percent from Q4 2015. Sales totaled SEK 2,825 million ($318 million), an increase from third quarter and year ago levels.
Demand improved during Q4 said SSAB as steel service centers restocked inventories. Fourth quarter results were adversely affected by lower realized prices. Plate spot prices began increasing in Q4 as did scrap prices. SSAB expects stronger prices to improve margins going forward.
In outlook remarks, SSAB wrote, “Outlook In North America, demand for heavy plate is anticipated to be good during the first quarter of 2017 and distributors are expected to increase purchases in the wake of low stock levels. In Europe, demand is similarly anticipated to be good during the first quarter; although no major changes in either end customer or distributor stock levels are expected. It is anticipated that import volumes into North America will gradually decline as a result of import duties, although in Europe no major change in import volumes is expected.”
SSAB Mobile is scheduled for a major maintenance outage that will begin late in first quarter and continue into second quarter.
SSAB Americas is the largest producer and supplier of steel plate in North America with combined annual capacity at its Mobile and Montpelier mills of 2.4 million tonnes. In addition to its two steel mills, SSAB Americas has three cut-to-length facilities located in Houston, St. Paul, MN, and Toronto.
Sandy Williams
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