In an interview given to local media, Australian steelmaker BlueScope’s managing director and CEO, Mark Vassella, said that energy costs in Australia are three times more than the investment they are making in the US, adding, “That's a tragedy quite frankly for Australian manufacturing”. “So we'll continue to push and agitate for more [energy] supply and more suppliers in [Australia] to try and get our energy costs back to some sort of level of international competitiveness,", Mr. Vassella affirmed.
The company has approved the expansion of its North Star business in the US, adding around a further 850,000 mt per year of domestic steelmaking capacity in the US. With an estimated cost of US$700 million, commissioning of the expansion is targeted for the middle of the financial year 2021-22 which starts in July 2021, with full ramp-up approximately 18 months later.
BlueScope has also announced its financial results for the financial year 2018-19 ended June 30, posting a net profit of A$1.01 billion ($700 million), compared to a net profit of A$1.6 billion in the previous financial year. The company’s sales revenues in the given period increased by nine percent to A$12.53 billion ($8.48 billion), due to higher steel prices across all segments and thanks to a weaker Australian dollar exchange rate.
In the current half, BlueScope expects weaker commodity steel spreads in North Star and Australian Steel Products, leading to an underlying EBIT around 45 percent lower than the second half of the financial year 2018-19 which saw an EBIT of A$499 million.
