Flat rolled segment income fell to $203 million in Q3 2011 from $374 million in Q2 for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based US Steel Corporation according to the company's earnings release Tuesday. And looking forward to Q4, US Steel said that "average realized prices and shipments are expected to decline as a result of cautious purchasing patterns created by the uncertain economic outlook and increasing domestic supply." Additionally, US Steel also said that with reduced capacity utilization rates due to flat rolled market conditions, the company is taking a number of maintenance outages during Q4. And although the outages were planned, US Steel CEO John Surma did conclude the company does have the ability to schedule the outages at the time most optimal to the company.
Currently, Surma explained that US Steel's flat rolled customers are "telling us just what they need and not any sooner than they need to," and hot rolled lead times are currently about four weeks for the company, "plus or minus."