The next wave of Q2 earnings results are in. Below are links to the latest results of companies tracked in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet.
All three companies reported improved performance in Q2. AK Steel’s EBITDA per ton rose from $55 in Q1 to $79 in Q2. US Steel and Posco saw much larger increases in profitability in Q2 vs. Q1 2011. US Steel’s EBITDA per ton rose to $86 from $13, while POSCO’s jumped to $223 from $175. Posco continued to achieve very impressive profitability numbers relative to companies we track.
This week Nucor and Steel Dynamics kicked off the second quarter earnings season among steel companies. Links to each company’s earnings release appear below.
Financial performance of the two companies was quite different in Q2 as can be seen in the Nerds of Steel Earnings Spreadsheet. Steel Dynamics saw EBITDA per ton decline slightly , from $111 in Q1 to $101 in Q2. Nucor saw a fairly significant jump in EBITDA per ton, from $77 in Q1 to $119 in Q2. Nucor indicated that Q3 results were likely to be below Q2. Steel Dynamics did not provide a specific guidance other than to say that Q3 “should be fairly solid”.
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports rose 10% from 252,000 short tons in May to 278,000 tons in June. In comparison, June 2010 long products imports were 220,000 tons, June 2009 were 105,000 tons, June 2008 were 269,000 tons, and June 2007 were 496,000 tons.
Parallel flange sections imports increased by about 11,000 tons, driven by higher imports from Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Luxembourg. Wire rod imports showed an increase of about 8,000 tons, here driven by increased imports from Turkey, Germany, and Japan.
July licenses reported up to July 19th were 101,000 tons which is likely to mean that full-month July imports will be significantly lower than June’s.
worldsteel published May 2011’s world crude steel production last Monday. Monthly production increased 2.9% between April and May, though daily average crude production was down 0.4% on April. Countries contributing to the monthly increase included China, which increased 1,213,000 tonnes over April, Japan, which increased 614,000 tonnes, Germany, which increased 303,000 tonnes, and finally Brazil, which increased 288,000 tonnes.
As usual, all the data for May 2011 (and for a number of prior years) is in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports rose 4% from 241,000 short tons in April to 251,000 tons in May. In comparison, May 2010 longs imports were 236,000 tons, May 2009 were 98,000 tons, May 2008 were 242,000 tons, and May 2007 were 591,000 tons.
The small rise masks some significant changes in imports of specific products. For example, wire rod imports increased by 29,000 tons mainly due to a rise from Turkey and beams imports rose by 14,000 tons where Spanish imports rose strongly. In contrast, rebar imports declined by 37,000 tons, here basically due to lower imports from Turkey.
June licenses reported up to June 14th were 146,000 tons which is likely to mean that full-month June imports will be higher than May’s.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports declined 5% from 690,000 short tons in April to 656,000 tons in May. In comparison, May 2010 flat products imports were 639,000 tons and May 2009 imports were 350,000 tons.
The drop was driven by lower hot dip galvanized and cold rolled imports. Hot dip imports dropped by 36,000 tons due to lower imports from India, Korea, and Taiwan, while cold rolled imports were down by 18,000 tons mainly due to reduced imports from Korea and Brazil.
I will update the spreadsheet below when the next licenses are reported in order to show mid-June license data.
