SSAB Americas logs lower Q2 profits, sees outage charges in Q3

Swedish steelmaker SSAB reported lower profits in the second quarter at its Americas unit. And it expects outage charges in the third quarter.

SSAB Americas logged revenue of Swedish kroners (SEK) 5,702 million (USD$590 million) in the second quarter, down 0.4% from a year earlier. Americas EBITDA decreased 10% to SEK 780 million (USD$80.7 million) in the same comparison.

Outage charges

Looking ahead, the SSAB Americas’ unit expects outage charges in the third quarter to total SEK around 390 million (~USD$40 million). SSAB Americas did not return a request for comment on planned Q3 outage locations or dates by time of publication.

“During the third quarter, we expect to see a seasonal slowdown in demand, and we will carry out planned maintenance at all steel divisions,” SSAB President and CEO Johnny Sjöström said in a statement on Wednesday. “The implemented price increases will generate somewhat higher prices in the third quarter.

SSAB’s US operations include plate mills in Montpelier, Iowa, and Mobile, Ala.

Q2 dynamics

Total shipments for SSAB Americas in the second quarter stood at 473,000 metric tons (mt), down 3% year over year. SSAB noted bottlenecks in logistics had a negative impact on shipments.

The company said plate prices rose in North America in the second quarter amid a relatively bullish market. Meanwhile, inventories among North American distributors were assessed to be somewhat low.

Production of SSAB Zero, a low-carbon content product, continued at SSAB Americas’ steel mill in Montpelier, Iowa. Around 20,000 mt were produced during Q2’25.

For SSAB as a whole, revenue increased 9% to SEK 27,489 million (USD$2.8 billion) in Q2’26 compared to Q2’25, while EBITDA rose 17% to SEK 3,778 million ($USD 391 million).

Ethan Bernard

Ethan Bernard is managing editor for Steel Market Update. He previously worked for American Metal Market as a copy editor in the New York office for two years, starting in 2008. Later, he copy edited AMM’s monthly magazine on a freelance basis from 2015 until 2017. With experience in financial copywriting and textbook publishing, he holds a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University. He can be reached at ethan@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7871.