Ryerson Foresees Weaker Business Conditions in Q3

For Q2, sales volumes of 524,000 tons were down 6% from the previous quarter. Lower volumes were shipped to the HVAC, food processing, and machinery and agricultural sectors. Volumes increased to the oil and gas, commercial ground transportation, and metal fabrication and machine shop markets. Carbon steel shipments were 408,000 tons—0.7% higher than Q1 but 4.7% below Q2 2021—with average selling prices 4% lower quarter-on-quarter but 25% higher year-on-year.

“Driven by faster and sharper-than-anticipated price declines in nickel, aluminum and carbon steel indices during the quarter, we experienced mid-quarter margin compression as spot-replacement cost of inventory fell faster than average-cost of inventory amidst decelerating increases in average selling prices,” the company stated.

Q2 revenues of $1.74 billion were just below Q1’s record $1.75 billion but showed year-on-year growth of 23%. Net income of $196.4 million was up 20% from Q1.

Revenues in Q3 are expected to be between $1.45 billion and $1.55 billion, with average selling prices down 5-8% sequentially, and shipments falling 4–6%.

By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com