Swedish steelmaker SSAB has said that its operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2010 is expected to be close to zero, given that towards the end of the fourth quarter demand in Europe weakened at a faster rate than SSAB had anticipated in the company's third quarter report.
According to a SSAB statement, the results will be negatively impacted by lower shipments as well as by a disruption in production at one of the blast furnaces in Oxelösund which contributed to a decline in output and earnings. Production at the blast furnace is expected to return to full operation in another few weeks, the steelmaker said.
Due to the weak market outlook during the fourth quarter, SSAB took the opportunity to bring forward part of a maintenance outage at the plant in Mobile, Alabama, USA which was previously scheduled for the first quarter of 2011.
Incoming orders for delivery during the first quarter next year have improved significantly compared with orders received for delivery in the current quarter. The order book for SSAB Americas is such that SSAB anticipates full production during the first quarter of 2011, while the picture remains somewhat weaker in Europe.