Salzgitter lowered its sales forecast for 2023

German steel producer Salzgitter lowered its sales forecast for 2023, informs Reuters.

The reasons given by the company were the weak development of the German economy and the instability of the political and economic environment.

Salzgitter currently expects sales this year to reach around €11 billion in cash terms ($11.61 billion), compared with a previous target range of €11.5 billion to €12 billion.

The company reported that EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation) for 9 months of 2023 amounted to €576 million, compared to €1.4 billion in the same period of 2022.

The estimated profit forecast for the current year remains unchanged. The company expects that by the end of 2023 the EBITDA indicator will be €650-700 million.

In the first half of 2023, Salzgitter Group provided EBITDA indicator in the amount of €461 million (compared to €1.14 billion in the first half of 2022). The company’s external sales fell by 12% y/y – up to €5.8 billion

The German steelmaker expects that EU safeguard measures on steel imports are unlikely to be extended beyond the summer of 2024, so supplies from abroad are likely to increase.

As GMK Center reported earlier, steel and metal distributor Klöckner&Co shortened the forecast profit for the current year due to difficult conditions in Europe. The company’s results in the third quarter, in particular, were affected by a drop in demand in the construction sector and lower steel prices.