West Chester, Ohio-based flat rolled steelmaker AK Steel said Friday that in Q3 2012, it expects shipments of approximately 1,375,000 tons, 3 percent higher than in Q2. However, average per-ton selling prices in Q3 are likely to be about 7 percent lower than in the previous quarter. The reduction in the average selling prices was due to lower spot market prices for carbon steel products as a result of a decline in global economic and business conditions, reduced raw material surcharges, due to lower raw material costs, and a lower percentage of value-added products in the total mix of shipments, due principally to market seasonality resulting from factors such as summer plant closures in the automotive industry.
AK Steel expects its Q3 2012 results to reflect approximately $29 million in planned major maintenance outage expense, compared to approximately $1 million in the second quarter of 2012.
AK Steel said it expects to incur a net loss of between $0.60 and $0.65 per diluted share of common stock for Q3.