SSAB Europe to idle another Nordic blast furnace

Sweden-based steelmaker SSAB plans to idle one of the blast furnaces at its Raahe steelworks in Finland for 4-6 weeks from the end of November.

The firm will take the 1.3mn t/yr furnace off line to prevent the build-up of slab stocks in December, with the duration of the shutdown dependent on market conditions.

In July, SSAB decided to idle the smaller of two blast furnaces at its Oxelosund plant in Sweden from mid-September. The smaller furnace has around 500,000 t/yr of capacity, while the larger unit can produce 1mn t/yr of crude steel.

The idling of the furnaces comes at a time of sluggish European steel demand, declining spot steel prices and elevated raw material costs, which are pressuring steel mill margins.

SSAB may keep the Raahe furnace off line for longer if market conditions deteriorate further, chief executive and president Martin Lindqvist said during a presentation today of the company's third quarter results. Such a situation would lead to the firm restarting the smaller Oxelosund unit and idling the larger one, he added.

SSAB Europe's sales revenue and shipment volumes declined slightly in July-September, but its earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) slumped. Shipments fell to 794,000t from 810,000t a year earlier, while Ebit fell to minus 480mn kronor (minus $49.7mn), down by Skr940mn over the same period.

The firm's crude steel production fell to 930,000t, from 1.1mn t in April-June and 1.05mn t in the third quarter of 2018. Rolling production fell to 980,000t, from 1.03mn t a year earlier.

SSAB Europe expects its realised prices to be lower in the fourth quarter than the third quarter, with shipments remaining stable.