USS swings to loss in first quarter on N. American flat-rolled segment woes

U.S. Steel swung to a loss in the first quarter, citing “mining logistics constraints” in its North American Flat-Rolled segment and weak spot prices.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker posted a net loss of $116 million in the first quarter vs. net income of $171 million a year earlier. Net sales dropped 10% to $3.72 billion in the same comparison.

 U.S. Steel President and CEO David B. Burritt praised the company’s resilience, “despite the seasonally low results driven by annual mining logistics constraints in our North American Flat-Rolled segment and lagging spot prices.”

“We recorded our highest quarter of shipments to date from our Mini Mill segment as Big River 2 (“BR2”) … continues ramping toward full capacity,” he added in the statement on Thursday.

In the Mini Mill segment, USS reported a 38% rise in year-over-year shipments in Q1’25 to 782,000 short tons (st). The company logged total steel shipments of 3.76 million st in the quarter, off 1% from a year earlier.

Burritt said the company expects the first quarter “to mark our lowest cash balance for the year, driven primarily by working capital impacts related to mining and the ramp up of BR2.” 

Regarding the mill, he said: “We are pleased to see shipments from BR2 continue to rise, with customers praising product quality, especially related to our industry-leading ultra-light gauge hot roll, a first in North America, including for the US commercial construction industry.”

Q2 outlook

USS expects Q2’25 adjusted EBITDA in the range of $375 million and $425 million.

“Our North American Flat-Rolled segment results are expected to increase as seasonal constraints in mining logistics ease and higher average steel prices flow through results,” USS continued.

However, the company does expect a partial offset from lower shipments “as a function of planned maintenance activity and outage costs during the quarter.”

In a Q1’25 earnings presentation, U.S. Steel said it’s planning a 60-day maintenance activity at blast-furnace (BF) #6 at its Gary Works in Indiana, and 20-day maintenance activity at the Gary hot strip mill, both in Q2’25.

Additionally, at its European operations U.S. Steel Kosice in Slovakia, the company said BF #2
will be temporarily idled starting in mid-May.

“We plan to keep it offline until demand improves,” USS said.

USS anticipates an improvement in its Mini Mill segment results, “reflecting both an increase in average selling prices and volumes from BR2, even after accounting for ~$50 million of ramp-up impact at BR2.”

“Overall, we expect to deliver positive enterprise free cash flow in the second quarter, as working capital impacts in the first quarter begin to unwind,” the company said.