Steel Mills
SSAB Reports Rough Quarter
Written by Sandy Williams
January 28, 2020
SSAB Americas posted a loss of $23 million (-222 million SEK) for the fourth quarter of 2019 due to lower realized steel prices and maintenance costs associated with a planned outage in Mobile, Ala.
Heavy plate demand was good in the first half of the year, but weakened in the fourth quarter due to inventory destocking as prices fell. Sales dropped 19 percent from the third quarter and 25 percent from a year ago. Lower demand was noted from heavy transportation and construction machinery.
Crude steel production declined 10 percent from Q3 and 9.0 percent from Q4 2018. Rolling production dropped 9.0 percent month-over-month and 10 percent year-over year. Declines were attributed to the Mobile maintenance.
SSAB expects demand for heavy plate in North America to be stable in the first quarter of 2020. With the maintenance outage at Mobile out of the way, shipments are expected to pick up in Q1. Prices are expected to be generally unchanged from the fourth quarter.
Group Results
Swedish SSAB Group saw sales slip 10 percent from third to fourth quarter to 16.97 billion SEK ($1.77 billion U.S.). The company posted a net loss of $129.4 million (-1.24 billion SEK) due to negative results in all business segments except Ruukki Construction. Crude steel production and rolling production were down 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively, from Q3. Steel shipments totaled 1.48 million metric tons.
“In Europe, demand was somewhat weaker throughout the year,” said SSAB. “During the first half of the year, it was primarily the automotive segment that slowed down, but later demand also decreased in other segments, including heavy transport. During the fourth quarter, demand was marked by destocking both by end customers and distributors.”
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills
ArcelorMittal’s EAF in Alabama expects first heat in Q2
The facility at AMNS Calvert will be the first EAF in North America capable of supplying exposed automotive grades with domestically melted and poured material.
Nucor’s Topalian lauds Trump’s trade policies, downplays impact
Nucor’s top exec Leon Topalian said the benefit of the current administration’s aggressive trade policies “trumps” any risk of potentially higher raw materials prices.
SSAB reports higher production, shipments
But profits slipped vs. last year.
Nucor earnings slump in first quarter, but better times seen ahead
Nucor’s profits fell precipitously in the first quarter, but the company has a rosier outlook for the following quarter.
Nucor names Batterbee, Bledsoe to HR roles
Nucor Corp. has promoted Thomas J. Batterbee to the position EVP of human resources and talent and appointed Elizabeth Bledsoe to the newly created position of president of human resources and talent.