Germany-based long steel producer Saarstahl has announced its financial and operational results for 2013, reporting a pre-tax loss of €131 million, compared to pre-tax earnings of €9 million in the previous year.
In 2013, the company's turnover decreased by 6.8 percent to €2.3 billion compared to the previous year. Saarstahl stated that there was renewed pressure on sales revenues as a result of the worldwide drop in prices for steel products caused by current excess capacities. In 2013, Saarstahl produced 2.52 million mt of
crude steel, rising by 8.9 percent compared to 2012.
According to Saarstahl's statement, low stock levels at dealers and the trend towards economic recovery have enabled the company to have an overall good start to the year 2014 with a high level of capacity utilization. In the segment of long products, positive development is expected with regard to quantities and revenues and the company is striving for necessary price increases for 2014. The group expects that the course of business will continue to be difficult but with an improvement in sales figures and a balanced result.