The first batch of companies have reported Q4 and full year 2010 financial results. The links below will take you to each company’s earnings release.
The final quarter of 2010 was not great for the companies listed above. EBITDA per ton was generally lower in Q4 than in Q3. For the full year, however, 2010 performance exceeded 2009, in large part because shipments were much stronger in 2010. For the 4 companies listed above, full year shipments were up 35% over 2009. You can see the details behind this analysis, including company shipments, operating income, and EBITDA in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet.
worldsteel published December 2010’s crude steel production data last Friday. As expected, the global steel industry achieved record crude steel production of 1,414 million tonnes beating the previous record set in 2007 by 68MT or 5% – about equivalent to Russia’s entire annual output. And as Peter Marsh points out in an article in the Financial Times, producers collectively racked up the biggest single year of production growth since the 1950’s. (Of course that’s easier to do when you’ve suffered one of the worst declines in output the previous year).
We haven’t had a chance to reconcile all the data for December (and it’s likely to change anyway) but it’s in the Nerds spreadsheet which now has an annual summary added for the years back to 2004 by major region. I’ll link you to that sheet so you know where it is in future. Enjoy.
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports fell 6% from 189,000 short tons in November to 178,000 tons in December. This can be compared to 166,000 tons in December 2009, 178,000 tons in December 2008, and 207,000 tons in December 2007.
The drop was driven by a 16,000 ton decline in wire rod imports due to lower volumes from South Africa, Canada, and Japan. Rebar and structural angles and channels imports, however, rose each by 4,000 tons.
Long products imports licenses for January reported up to January 18th were 111,000 tons, which is likely to mean that full-month January imports will be significantly higher than December imports.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports declined 6% from 513,000 short tons in November to 481,000 tons in December. This can be compared to 405,000 tons in December 2009 and 474,000 tons in December 2008.
Hot dip galvanized imports fell the most, dropping by 22,000 tons due to significant declines from Korea and Canada. The only product recording a rise in imports was plate where imports rose by 12,000 tons due to higher imports from Germany, Australia, Austria, Brazil, and the UK.
It’s too early in the month to accurately predict full-month January imports, but I will update the spreadsheet below as soon as the next license data update occurs.
worldsteel’s latest release detailing world crude steel production in November shows a modest (<3%) aggregate decline from October but a very small (<1%) increase on a daily basis. Production in 2010 in total is now 16% or so above the year-to-date figure in 2009. But it's up over 30% in the developed countries and up 13% in developing economies. With the prospect of production holding reasonably steady through December, 2010 promises to be a record year for crude steel production. Data are below. Impress your friends and relatives with your granular understanding of these numbers over the holidays. After all - they've come to expect it from you. All the best to all our readers for 2011.
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports rose 3% from 179,000 short tons in October to 184,000 tons in November. This can be compared to long products imports of 99,000 tons in November 2009, 173,000 tons in November 2008, and 235,000 tons in November 2007.
Rebar, beams, and structural angles and channels imports declined, while imports of all other products rose, particularly imports of all other structural sections, which rose by 46% mainly due to product from Turkey.
Long products imports licenses for December reported up to December 14th were 68,000 tons which is likely to mean that full-month December imports will be slightly lower than November imports.
