SSAB Special Steels and SSAB Europe will begin planned maintenance in Q3 2021 during a period of seasonally lower activity in the European market, which will reduce production rates and sales revenue. SSAB’s Mobile, Alabama site will be down for a portion of Q3 as well.
SSAB’s total shipments rose by 30pc to slightly over 1.8mn mt in Q2 2021 against the same year-ago quarter with America’s shipments rising by 7pc to about 450,000mt.
SSAB Special Steel shipments climbed by 46pc to 388,000mt in Q2 2021 against the 266,000mt in the same year-ago quarter and up 3pc against the 376,000mt in the preceding quarter. Shipments from the Europe division rose by 41pc in Q2 2021 to 980,000mt against the year-ago quarter.
The steelmaker’s consolidated revenue rose by 56.2pc to SEK 23.7bn ($2.7bn) in Q2 2021 compared to SEK15.2bn in the same quarter last year. SSAB’s EBITDA grew seven times to SEK4.9bn in Q2 2021 against $705mn in the year-ago quarter. It reported an operating profit of SEK 4.1bn in Q2 in contrast to a loss of SEK251mn in Q2 2020. The company enjoyed the highest ever quarterly operating profits benefiting from strong demand and high steel prices.
The company noted in its earnings report on Thursday that growth in SSAB Specialty Steel’s high-strength steel and fossil-free production are key strategies in improving profitability.
($1=SEK8.69)