Steel Mills

SSAB Posts Strong Q3 in Americas, Sees Weakness in Europe

October 25, 2022

The strong performance of SSAB Americas was a bright spot in Swedish parent company SSAB’s third quarter earnings report as the company’s European segment was impacted by weaker demand and low shipments.

SSAB SSAB Americas posted Q3 operating profit of SEK 3,036 million (US$276.65 million) — a 61% improvement from the same quarter of 2021. The segment reported lower but still elevated pricing for steel plate, with realized prices 25% higher year-on-year. The segment’s Q3 shipments of 416,000 metric tons were down 13% sequentially and down 14% from the year-ago quarter due to the planned maintenance outage at its Iowa mill.

Government infrastructure spending and energy demand remain bright spots for plate demand in the US over the next few years, the company said. For the current quarter, the company is seeing stable demand in the US heavy transport sector, including rail and marine, as well as in the construction machinery sector.

Q3 operating profit for SSAB Europe, meanwhile, was less than half that of the America’s segment at SEK 1,447 million ($131.9 million), with shipments down 10% YoY to 713,000 metric tons.

SSAB Special Steels posted record Q3 operating profit of SEK 2,411 million ($219.7 million). North American sales accounted for 30% of Special Steels’ revenue shares in the first nine months of the year.

All told, Stockholm-based SSAB recorded a profit of SEK 5,076 million ($462 million) in Q3, up 13% from SEK 4,481 million ($407.8 million) in the same quarter last year while revenue increased 25% to SEK 31,516 million ($2,868 million) over the same period.

SSAB’s outlook remains strong for fossil-free steel demand. For the current quarter, it expects higher shipments and somewhat lower realized prices within SSAB Americas, somewhat lower shipments and prices from the Special Steels segment, and stable shipments and significantly lower prices in SSAB Europe.

By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. Since 2007, she has held various editorial and marketing positions with steel industry publications, associations, and mills. In 2021, after a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel trade journalism, joining SMU in 2022. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.