“Despite the continued recovery, the operating environment in Europe remains quite difficult,” departing Outokumpu President and CEO Heikki Malinen said. “The European economy is confronted with multiple structural challenges resulting from the war in Ukraine, funding of the green transition and growing de-globalization. To ensure our profit generation in this type of an operating environment, we must accelerate efforts to improve our European cost competitiveness, especially within commodity stainless steel production.”
On July 9, 2024, Kati ter Horst was appointed as the new President and CEO of Outokumpu starting from Oct. 9, 2024.
In Q2 Outokumpu saw its total stainless steel deliveries fall by 7% on the year to 468,000 mt due to the European business, partly offset by higher deliveries in the Americas.
Adjusted EBITDA in Q2 dropped to Eur56 million ($61 million) from Eur190 million in the same quarter last year, as it was hit by a widespread strike in Finland. The labor action also indirectly affected the company’s operations in other countries through the disruption to internal material flows in both Europe and the Americas.
In Q2 2024, realized prices for stainless steel increased driven by a rise in Europe, but this was partly offset by a decrease in the Americas.
The profitability of both stainless steel businesses was burdened by the tightened scrap market, while variable costs decreased in Europe due to lower energy and consumable prices. According to Outokumpu the scrap market in Q3 is expected to remain tight and, with current raw material prices, some raw material-related inventory and metal derivative gains are forecast to be realized in Q3.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the 62%-Fe iron ore index at $99.30/dmt CFR North China on Aug. 8, down $1.30/dmt from Aug. 7, in line with tradables values. In Q2, prices moved from 102.50/dmt on April 1 to 106.70/dmt on June 28.
