Service Center News

Ryerson Holding Corp., Chicago, reported a net loss of $6.6 million in the third quarter on sales of $1.13 billion. The net loss contrasts with the $35 million profit on $1.25 billion in sales in the third quarter of 2023.

For the first three months of 2024, Ryerson's net sales were down 10.1 percent to $3.6 billion, while the $119.9 million in profit in 2023 had become a $4.3 million loss this year.

"Two things can be true at the same time: 1) the industry is experiencing a cyclical bottoming marked by 24 months of moving average demand and price contraction; and 2) Ryerson’s record investments in systems, capital expenditures and acquisitions over this same period are positioning the company well for the next cyclical upturn," said Eddie Lehner, Ryerson’s president, CEO and director. "Over the third quarter, we managed the business effectively through a contractionary industrial metals and manufacturing environment that produced compressed margins, most notably in carbon steels and across the commodity spectrum, with lagging OEM customer contract price resets."

The distributor shipped 485,000 tons during the quarter at an average selling price of $2,323 per ton. The tons shipped were up modestly from Q3 2023, but the average selling price was down almost 11 percent.

For the fourth quarter of 2024, Ryerson expects customer shipments to seasonally and counter-cyclically decrease 8 to 10 percent quarter over quarter. The company anticipates fourth-quarter net sales to be in the range of $1 billion to $1.04 billion, with average selling prices between decreasing 1 percent to increasing 1 percent.