After a streak of nine consecutive quarters in the red, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based United States Steel Corporation (US Steel) reported Q2 2011 net income of $222 million. US Steel incurred a net loss of $86 million in the previous quarter and a $25 million net loss in Q2 2010.
Sales from US Steel's flat-rolled operations led the gain, totaling $374 million in Q2 compared to a loss of $36 million in segment in the previous quarter. Flat-rolled income from operations improved significantly from Q1 2011 to $95/nt, driven largely by an $83/nt increase in average realized prices. Tubular segment sales, on the other hand, fell from $32 million to $31 million as compared to Q1.
Overall, due to a reduction in shipments from US Steel Europe, total steel shipments of 5.5 million net tons (nt) in Q2 were down 6 percent from Q1, however net sales of $5.1 billion were up 5 percent from Q1 2011.