September 19 (SeeNews) - Slovenian steel group Slovenska Industrija Jekla (SIJ) produced 233,959 tonnes of cast steel in the first half of 2023, down 11.5% on the year, it said.
The production of finished steel products fell by 17.8% to 168,910 tonnes in the first half, SIJ said in a filing with the Ljubljana Stock Exchange on Monday.
"The actual market situation exceeded expectations, but due to the longer production time required for the production of high-quality steel, recovery to normalised volumes required time. As a result, production of cast steel and thus finished products was lower than in the same record period in 2022," SIJ said.
The company recorded a consolidated net profit of 12.7 million euro ($13.6 million euro) in the first half of 2023, down from 52.4 million euro in the like period of last year, while its net sales declined 17.6% on the year to 601.5 million euro.
"The key reasons for the decline in sales revenue are lower sales volume and lower sales prices. The drop in the prices of raw materials, energy products and transport, according to the sales price adjustment model, also lowered our sales prices. The share of exports remains stable, accounting for more than 84% of total sales," SIJ said.
The SIJ Group is the largest vertically integrated metallurgical group in Slovenia, occupying with its products leading positions on European and global niche steel markets.
($ = 0.935126 euro)