Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports declined 10% from 563,000 short tons in September to 505,000 tons in October. This can be compared to 482,000 tons of flat products imports in October 2009 and 778,000 tons in October 2008.
Hot rolled imports fell by 71,000 tons mainly due to lower imports from Korea and Australia. In contrast, hot dip galvanized imports increased by 23,000 tons due to a sharp rise in imports from India.
It’s too early in the month to accurately predict full-month November imports, but I will update the spreadsheet below with the newest November 18th data next week.
Gerdau SA announced Q3 earnings last week. The company’s press release can be found here. EBITDA per ton was down to $149 in Q3 from $193 in Q2. Even though it fell, Gerdau’s EBITDA per ton was still quite good in relation to the other companies tracked in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet.
Those of you who are real Nerds of Steel will notice that Gerdau Ameristeel’s EBITDA and operating income per ton are no longer being tracked in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet. In August of this year, Gerdau SA acquired the 34% of Gerdau Ameristeel that it didn’t already own and has stopped reporting separate results for Gerdau Ameristeel.
Third quarter earnings announcements continued this week. The most recent companies announcing Q3 financial results are shown below, along with links to their earnings reports:
A couple weeks ago, Posco also released Q3 earnings but it always seems to take a little time before the English version of the results can be found online. Here’s a link to the page on Posco’s website that provides access the company’s earnings reports in English.
In general this was a tough quarter. AK Steel saw EBITDA per ton decline from positive $83 to negative $33, as the company adjusted its year-to-date costs to reflect higher iron ore prices than it had been accounting for. ArcelorMittal also saw EBITDA per ton decline between Q2 and Q3, but from a much higher level than most of its peers – $119 in Q2 down to $98 in Q3. US Steel continues to perform poorly relative to the companies tracked in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet. In Q3 US Steel’s EBITDA per ton fell to $4, down from $61 in Q2. As usual, Posco led the pack with EBITDA per ton of $167 in Q3 down from a very high $237 in Q2.
This week Nucor and Steel Dynamics announced Q3 2010 earnings results. Nucor’s press release can be found here and Steel Dynamics’ release is here. Both companies saw operating income and EBITDA per ton drop off relative to Q2. You can see quarterly operating income and EBITDA per ton in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports grew 18% from 468,000 short tons in August to 551,000 tons in September. This followed a 20% fall between July and August. In comparison, September 2009 imports were 434,000 tons and September 2008 imports were 816,000 tons.
The largest volume increase in imports came from hot roll which which was driven by a rise in imports from Australia. Imports of cold roll and cut plate also grew but hot dip galvanized imports fell by 34%.
Flat products imports licenses for October reported up to October 19th were 348,000 tons which means that full-month October imports should be higher than September imports.
