AK Steel today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2016, reporting a Q4 net loss of $62.4 million, compared to a net loss of $145.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2015.
Net sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 were $1.42 billion on shipments of 1,412,200 tons, compared to net sales of $1.54 billion on shipments of 1,655,800 tons for the year-ago fourth quarter.
The decline in shipments was largely driven by the company's strategic decision to reduce commodity steel sales to the distributor and converters market, which declined 23 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015. Also, shipments to the automotive industry were slightly lower in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to a year ago, primarily as a result of inventory adjustments by several major automakers and changes to or the phasing out of certain automotive platforms.
For the full-year 2016, AK Steel reported a net loss of $7.8 million compared to a net loss of $509.0 million in 2015. Net sales for 2016 were $5.88 billion on shipments of 6,051,800 tons, a decrease from 2015 net sales of $6.69 billion on 7,089,200 tons.
The decline in shipments from 2015 was primarily the result of a 41 percent decline in shipments to the distributor and converters market as the company intentionally reduced sales of commodity products. Shipments to the automotive industry were 4 percent higher in 2016 over 2015, which was higher than the 2 percent increase in North American automotive build rate for the same period.