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Ternium SA, Luxembourg-based long and flat steel producer has announced that in the second quarter of this year it registered a net profit of $230.7 million, six percent lower as compared to the first quarter of this year and down 61 percent year on year, as a result of the $428 million discontinued operations gain in the second quarter 2009 related to the transfer of Sidor shares to Venezuela.
 
In the second quarter of this year, Ternium's net sales amounted to $1.93 billion, which is 17 percent higher in relation to the first quarter and up 69 percent year on year, including $1.7 billion from flat product sales and $214.9 million from long product sales.
 
Ternium's flat product shipments, in the given period, rose 35 percent reaching 1.71 million metric tons, while its long product shipments came to 322,500 metric tons, up 28 percent, both compared to the corresponding period of 2009. Thus, Ternium's total steel product shipments amounted to 2.03 million metric tons, increasing by 34 percent year on year.
 
Meanwhile, in the first half of 2010, Ternium increased its net profit by 8.1 percent year on year to $475.8 million, based on sales revenue of $3.58 billion, which is 54.58 percent higher as compared to the first six months of 2009.
 
In the January-June period of 2010, Ternium's total steel product shipments were recorded at 3.94 million metric tons, rising by 30 percent year on year, including 3.34 million metric tons of flat products - up 33 percent year on year, and 598,700 metric tons of long products - up 16 percent.
 
Ternium expects the business recovery underway in the NAFTA region to moderate from its year-to date pace during the remainder of the year, leading to a stabilization of the company's shipment levels in the region. The company also anticipates that shipments in the South and Central America region will remain relatively stable through the end of the year. Ternium foresees a decrease in operating margin in the second half of 2010 compared to the second quarter of 2010 mainly as a result of higher raw material costs.