EU measures against steel imports will not lead to a significant increase in domestic demand until the third quarter, said Birgit Potrafki, chief financial officer of Salzgitter AG.
"The impact of protective measures from July 1 will not happen immediately," she said during a conference call this week, which Callanish watched. Pointing out that existing stocks are at a sufficient level, she expects that "we will see an improvement at the end of the year, not in the middle." She added that there was a slight increase in inventories amid an increase in imports that began before the introduction of CBAM and new trade measures.
Her forecast for steel prices is also modest. She expressed disappointment that the price increase for hot-rolled coils in Europe remained at around 700-710 euros per ton (822-834 dollars) and even slightly below 700 euros.
The company is currently negotiating long-term contracts with clients. Potrafki did not give any indication of the potential rate of increase, including due to the large difference in the duration of the contracts.
However, she said that the negotiations were taken into account in the company's management, which was prepared after the publication of the annual results for 2025 two months ago. At that time, the company forecast Ebitda for the whole of 2026 in the amount of 500-600 million euros. Based on the satisfactory sales results in the first fiscal quarter, this range was increased to 625-725 million euros.
Speaking about the crisis in the Middle East, she noted that the events had a negative impact on the company's international business, but for now to slow down the arrival of orders from local customers.
Author: Christian Kel
Kallanish.com
