Radius Recycling posted its seventh consecutive quarterly loss as tighter metal margins and diverging domestic and export markets challenged the scrap metal recycler and steelmaker.
The Portland, Oregon-based company registered a $33mn loss in its second quarter ending 28 February, compared with a $34mn loss in the previous year and a $37mn loss in the prior quarter. It has not made a profit since 2023.
Radius agreed to be acquired by Japanese trading house Toyota Tsusho on 13 March for $1.34bn. The deal should close in the second half of 2025, the company said in an earnings release.
US steel mill restocking activities drove inland prices higher in the quarter. But high levels of Chinese steel exports weighed on global ferrous scrap and finished steel prices, which caused domestic and export market conditions to diverge through the quarter, the company said.
Radius' average ferrous selling price fell by 16pc to $330/gt from $384/gt a year earlier. Harsh winter weather tightened scrap flows, which, combined with the drop in selling prices, shrank the company's metal spreads compared with the prior-year quarter.
Radius' ferrous sales volumes rose to 1.09mn gt in the latest quarter from 980,000gt in the same period the previous year.
Radius, which operates a long-product steel mill in Oregon, boosted its steel sales by 13pc to 131,000 short tons (st) in the quarter, up from 114,000st a year earlier. Its average steel selling price in the second quarter fell by 10pc to $756/st from $832/st in the prior year.
The mill's utilization rate was 88pc in the quarter, compared with 81pc in the same quarter last year. Stronger demand across the company's end-use markets in the western US drove the increase in finished steel sales volumes.
Nonferrous sales volumes decreased by 1pc to 174mn lb in the quarter, from 176mn lb a year earlier. The company's average nonferrous scrap selling price during the quarter increased by 9pc to $1.03/lb from 94¢/lb a year earlier.
