Rautaruukki reports 9-months figures
Finland based metal products and services company Rautaruukki Corporation released its interim report for January-September 2005.
Consolidated net sales of the company in the first nine months increased 8 percent year on year to €2.76 billion. The net sales were boosted by the higher price level, as the delivery volumes declined around 18 percent year on year. Of net sales, 29 percent came from
Finland, 30 percent from the other Nordic countries, 11 percent from Central/Eastern
Europe, 27 percent from the rest of
Europe and 3 percent from other countries.
In the same period, the Metals division of the company produced 2.92 million metric tons of steel. Net sales of the division increased 2 percent year on year to €2.03 billion. The decrease in net sales growth was a factor of units that transferred to Ovako and lower volume due to
production adjustments.
Particularly for the third quarter, a seasonal slow down was noticed on standard steel products. Meanwhile, the stockpiles at wholesalers continued to decrease from earlier highs, recently returning to normal. Prices of steel products fell somewhat during the third quarter. Nevertheless, the average price at the end of the reported period was slightly above last year's level. The company expects the average price to rise during the rest of the year with the enforcement of new annual agreements.
Rautaruukki expects full year consolidated net sales to reach €3.6 billion thanks to strong economic growth in Baltic countries and Central/Eastern
Europe, strong order bookings from the engineering industry and the normalized levels of wholesalers' stocks.