Metals service center Ryerson expects steel and aluminum demand to remain strong in the US through the rest of 2018 after boosting overall shipments by 5pc in the second quarter from a year earlier.
The Chicago-based company pointed to rising industrial production and reduced import flows resulting from the US steel and aluminum tariffs as supportive of demand.
Ryerson shipped 543,000st across all of its product groups in the second quarter, up from 518,000st in the same quarter a year earlier.
Carbon steel shipments rose by 5pc to 410,000st, while aluminum shipments ticked up to 54,000st from 52,000st. Stainless steel shipments were up by 3pc at 76,000st.
Stronger demand in the US also helped lift Ryerson's selling prices on the quarter.
The company did not provide its selling prices by product, but its overall average selling price rose to $1,947/st in the second quarter from $1,690/st a year earlier.
Aluminum led gains in selling prices at 21pc, while stainless steel prices rose by 15pc and carbon steel selling prices increased by 14pc.
Flat carbon steel products accounted for the largest share of Ryerson's sales revenue in the quarter at 28pc, followed by flat stainless steel products at 18pc and flat aluminum products at 15pc.
Increased shipments at higher prices and wider margins boosted second-quarter profit to $17mn on revenue of $1.1bn from just under $1mn in profit on revenue of $875mn in the prior-year period.
Shipments in the first half of the year also rose by 5pc to 1.1mn st from the same period a year earlier amid gains across carbon steel, stainless and aluminum products. This helped lift profit through the first six months of the year up to $28mn on $2bn in sales from $16mn on $1.7bn in sales in the same period a year earlier.
Third quarter shipments are also expected to rise following the company's acquisition of metals distributor and processor Central Steel and Wire in July. The Chicago-based service center business has six locations and annual revenue of $600mn.
Ryerson processes and distributes industrial metals at its operations in the US, Canada, Mexico and China.
