Ryerson Sees Strong Q1 Shipments on Surprisingly Good Demand

Q1 sales of $1.4 billion increased 9.2% sequentially, driven by seasonally higher volumes that were partially offset by lower average selling prices, the company said. Sales were down 20% from the year-ago quarter.

Although better than the net loss of $24.1 million in the prior quarter, Ryerson’s Q1 net income was down 71% YoY to $48 million.

While off 0.7% from Q1 last year, Ryerson’s Q1 carbon steel shipments of 402,000 tons increased 10.1% sequentially. Average selling prices declined 8.1% from Q4 and were down 26% YoY.

Aluminum shipments were 4% higher year-on-year and 15.6% higher quarter-on-quarter at 52,000 tons. Stainless steel shipments of 63,000 tons were 11.3% lower YoY but 21.2% higher QoQ.

“Thanks to the excellent work over the past several years to improve our capital structure, we can further invest smartly by modernizing our business and enhancing our capabilities as evidenced by our new service centers in Centralia, Wash., and University Park, Ill., as well as integrating the operations of BLP Holdings, Excelsior, and Howard Precision Metals into our intelligent service center network,” Lehner added.

The company expects shipments in the current quarter to be roughly flat compared to Q1 with prices increasing 0-1%. Sales are forecast to be similar to Q1, in the range of $1.40 billion to $1.44 billion.

Ryerson operates approximately 100 service center locations through the US, Canada, Mexico, and China.

Ryerson’s Eddie Lehner will be a speaker at this year’s SMU Steel Summit, August 21-23 in Atlanta. For more information or to register, click here.

By Laura Miller, laura@steelmarketupdate.com