Swedish steel producer SSAB expects steel shipments from the Americas division to increase in the third quarter compared with the prior year.
Third quarter shipments could range from 451,000 metric tonnes (t) to 474,000t, which would be an increase of 8.4-14pc over the prior year's 416,000t.
Pricing is expected to remain steady in the third quarter compared with the prior quarter.
SSAB reported that North American demand in the second quarter remained steady, while distributor inventory levels were low.
Second-quarter shipments at SSAB Americas, which consists of a plate mill in Montpelier, Iowa, and includes shipments from SSAB's special steels plate mill in Mobile, Alabama, fell by 5.3pc to 451,000t from the same period in 2022. While demand was stable, bad weather conditions affected transport towards the end of the second quarter, the company said.
The Iowa mill's second-quarter crude steel production decreased by 2pc to 297,000t while rolling production was down by 6pc to 265,000t.
The Iowa mill is expected to take a planned maintenance outage during the fourth quarter that will cost SEK325mn ($31.2mn).