Some of the steelmaker’s biggest challenges last year were the economy and costs of raw materials. President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman James Wainscott stated in the annual earnings report released last year that “AK Steel met the severe economic crisis of 2009 head-on and emerged as a stronger company.” According to AK, it had a net loss of $74.6 million in 2009.
The benchmark price of iron ore, a standard used to estimate costs, increased 98.65 percent last year over the 2009 benchmark price, according to AK. This forced AK to revise its third quarter outlook in September. The original estimate was for the price to increase by 65 percent.
In the fourth quarter outlook released last year, it was expected that AK would have fewer shipments than the third quarter — 1,300,000 to 1,350,000 tons — and a four percent decrease in the average selling price of $1,075 in the third quarter. It made shipments of 1,465,800 tons of steel between July and September, according to AK.
A conference call can be accessed from www.aksteel.com at 11 a.m.