Steel Mills
Stelco: Unplanned Outages Cut Q4 Shipments, Q1 Impact Likely
Written by David Schollaert
January 6, 2022
Stelco Holdings Inc. said its fourth-quarter steel shipments were negatively impacted by production challenges and unplanned outages.
The Hamilton, Ontario-based steelmaker shipped roughly 625,000 net tons of steel in the fourth quarter of 2021, below prior guidance of 675,000 to 680,000 net tons.
Shipments in the fourth quarter were lower than expected due to various production challenges, including unplanned outages on its hot strip mill, logistics hurdles, and delays at the end of Q4 brought on by the Omicron variant, the company said.
The negative news didn’t stop there for Stelco. The Canadian steelmaker also provided its first quarter 2022 guidance – and indicated that steel shipments would be similar to or below fourth-quarter totals.
Stelco said the lower guidance for Q1 is a result of planned outages that have been pulled forward in response to its fourth-quarter challenges. Weaker guidance also stems from declining steel prices, weaker demand, and limited labor availability due to increased COVID disruptions, the company said.
By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com
David Schollaert
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