Posted on 02 Mar 2023
Steel service center Olympic Steel expects demand from its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers to remain steady through 2023.
"The industrial OEMs have been at a pretty good pace … and they're continuing to remain steady," said chief operating officer Andrew Greiff on a 24 February earnings call. "We see that not only through the first and second quarter, but right now, it looks like through the balance of this year."
Labor shortages continue to be the biggest issue when it comes to OEM production, Greiff said, with companies meeting the forecasts they provided to Olympic.
Spending related to government infrastructure projects has yet to flow through the market, with expectations that money will start to show up in the back half of the year, Greiff said.
The company is developing a new 80,000ft² metals facility in Barlett, Illinois, which the company expects to be fully operational by the second quarter.
Olympic's fourth-quarter carbon flat steel sales fell to 187,100 short tons (st), down by 2.8pc from a year earlier. Specialty metals flat sales fell by 10pc to 31,100st.
In 2022, carbon sales fell by 12pc to 806,900st, while specialty flat metal sales declined by 10pc to 142,100st.
Olympic earned a profit of $4mn in the fourth quarter, down from $24.9mn in the prior year. For full year 2022, profit was $90.9mn, down by 25pc compared to 2021.
Source:Argus Media
