US Steel and AK Steel reported Q2 2010 results today. US Steel’s press release can be found here and AK’s results are here. Both companies showed improved EBITDA per ton. AK’s Q2 EBITDA per ton was $83, up very marginally from $82 in Q1. US Steel’s improvement was more substantial. EBITDA per ton rose to $61 in Q2 from $20 in Q1. Neither company was particularly optimistic about Q3 – both companies expect Q3 operating income to be lower than Q2. Check out historical and current operating income and EBITDA per ton on the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet.
Second quarter results are starting to come in. This week, Nucor, Steel Dynamics, and California Steel announced Q2 2010 earnings. Nucor’s earnings release can be found here, Steel Dynamics’ here, and California Steel’s here.
Of the three companies California Steel had the highest EBITDA per ton, reporting $102 up from $72 in Q1 2010. This compares to $86 at Steel Dynamics which is down slightly from $92 in Q1 and $64 at Nucor which is up from $47 in Q1.
Watch the results unfold and look at historical performance by viewing or downloading the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports declined 21% from 639,000 short tons in May to 506,000 tons in June. This can be compared to 252,000 tons of flat products imports in June 2009.
The decline was driven by hot rolled imports which dropped by 107,000 tons due to lower imports from a number of countries including Korea, Germany, Canada, and Australia. In addition, cold rolled imports declined by 18%, hot dip galvanized imports by 8%, and cut plate imports by 1%.
Flat products import licenses for July reported up to July 20th were 400,000 tons which means that full-month July imports should be significantly higher than June imports and even higher than May imports of 639,000 tons.
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports declined 9% from 236,000 short tons in May to 214,000 tons in June. This can be compared to long products imports of 105,000 tons in June 2009, 269,000 tons in June 2008 and 496,000 tons in June 2007.
The decline was driven by lower wire rod imports, which dropped by 27,000 tons, and by parallel flange sections imports, which dropped by 17,000 tons. Rebar imports, on the other hand, increased by 25,000 tons.
Import licenses for July reported up to July 20th were 151,000 tons which indicates that full-month July imports should be slightly higher than June at about the same level as May 2010.
Worldsteel published two potentially useful items recently. First, they published World Steel in Figures 2010 – which actually just covers up to 2009.
They also published their list of the largest steel producers in 2009. They publish the list in html and pdf formats. Here’s the link to the announcement. Unfortunately, the PDF file at the bottom of that page points to a file containing the 2005/6 data. So, if you want a PDF file of the 2009 data, click on ‘File’ in the Nerds spreadsheet below and select ‘Export as’ – PDF file is an option there.
Posco reported very impressive Q2 earnings today. See the company’s earnings presentation here. EBITDA per ton shipped was $237 for Q2, up from $211 in Q1. The company seems fairly bullish about global steel demand for this year, which is forecast to finish 2010 up 12% at 1,255 million tonnes (MT), from 1,120 MT in 2009. Posco also revised upwards its 2010 forecast of Chinese steel demand, to 587 MT from its previous forecast of 579 MT. This compares to 542 MT of Chinese demand in 2009. Posco’s results can be compared to some of its peers in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet.
