Finland-based stainless steel producer Outokumpu has announced its financial results for 2015, registering a net profit of €86 million, compared to a net loss of €439 million in the previous year, while the company's sales for the whole year decreased by 6.7 percent year on year to €6.38 billion.
Outokumpu's stainless steel deliveries in 2015 decreased by 6.8 percent year on year to 2.38 million mt. The company pointed out that global stainless steel real demand in 2015 grew by only 1.6 percent compared to 2014. Deceleration was driven by slowing economies in emerging markets, notably China, general weakness in global manufacturing, and the deteriorating nickel price. In the Americas, demand shrank by 1.4 percent, while in Asia-Pacific region demand grew by 2.4 percent. In 2015, stainless steel imports into the EU are estimated to have declined to 24.7 percent of total consumption from 30.6 percent in 2014. In the NAFTA region, stainless steel imports are expected to have risen to around 23.7 percent compared to 19.5 percent in 2014.
The company stated that 2016 has started with downward revisions to economic growth outlooks and pressure in the materials sector. Outokumpu foresees no meaningful pick-up in the stainless steel markets for the first quarter, and, while distributor stocks have come to more normalized levels, the low nickel price continues to curtail distributor buying activity. Outokumpu estimates first quarter delivery volumes will remain at a similar level as in the fourth quarter of 2015 and that its underlying EBIT will still be negative.