Stainless Steel Me

Finnish stainless steel manufacturer Outokumpu so its third quarter sales slump 54% compared to last year. Demand for stainless steel has fallen significantly during the economic down turn, but even these figures where worse than analysts forecast. Executives for the company still forecast break even by the end of the year due to rises in market price levels.

In a statement from CEO Juha Rantanen he said “Stainless steel markets have not seen any major improvement. Underlying demand continues to be weak and the purchasing behavior of steel distributors is very much driven by short-term developments in nickel price. Outokumpu’s delivery volumes in the third quarter were low. On a positive note, our financial performance is on an improving trend and both prices and volumes are expected to increase in the fourth quarter. Our priorities in the current market are to balance short-term cost and cash flow management with longer term strategy implementation. We have not given up our ambition of reaching break-even operating profit towards the end of the year.”

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