Q1 loss of U.S. steel company reached U.S.$439mln

April 28 MetalBiz--United States Steel Corporation (USS) released a quarterly report on April 27 that the net loss of the company in Q1 was U.S.$439mln, while the net profits in Q4 got to U.S.$290mln and was U.S.$235 in Q1 last year.

JohnP. Surma, the chairman of the board, as well as the chief executive officer of USS, said that owing to the high inventory of flat bar and the sluggish demand, the order sharply decreased, which brought great pressure on the sector of flat bar in USS. The branch sector of pipe also suffered the same situation. The price of oil and gas reduced significantly, which made the pipe demand decline, while the inventory is also high.

The company flat bar capacity utilization fell to 38% from 45% in Q1 compared with the Q4 last year, and the shipments decreased 24% to 2.1mln net tons, the average price with a U.S.$90 per net ton drops to U.S.$ 715 per net ton.

The branch in European Q1 production capacity utilization reduced to 55% from 51% in Q4 of last year and the average price dropped U.S.$175 per net ton. The raw material price drop and the expenditure cut made up for the steel price decline.

The shipments and average price of pipe branch presented the obvious decline in Q1 compared with Q4 last year.

With regard to the future, John P. Surma expects that in Q2 it will present loss, because the current orders are still scare and the idle equipment also need costs to maintain. Due to the uncertain economic environment and the depressed the steel-using enterprises such as automobile and construction, the company will face an extremely tough business environment.