Salzgitter cuts forecast again as steel market remains sluggish

(Reuters) -German steelmaker Salzgitter lowered its outlook for the second time in 2025 on Monday, seeing sales and earnings at the low end of its earlier ranges, and said market conditions had shown little improvement since the beginning of the year.

Recent signs of moderate price increases are not expected to be reflected in the results until next year, it added.

Salzgitter expects annual sales of just above 9 billion euros ($10.5 billion), down from between 9.0 billion and 9.5 billion euros previously. It also lowered the top end of its core profit guidance by 50 million euros, bringing the range to 300–350 million.

The company said its loss before taxes would be between 50 million and 100 million euros. It had formerly guided for the metric to land between a loss of 100 million and breakeven.

Finance chief Birgit Potrafki praised the new trade measures recently presented by the European Commission for their potential to strengthen the competitiveness of the European steel industry.

The Commission last month proposed cutting tariff-free steel import quotas by almost a half, with a 50% duty for excess shipments, in a bid to preserve viable steelmaking in the European Union.

European steelmakers had warned of a possible flood of steel into the continent as exporters began to divert shipments due to U.S. tariffs, with Salzgitter among those who called on the EU to take protective measures.

"Should the expected economic recovery materialise next year, we anticipate an overall improvement in earnings," Potrafki said.

Salzgitter reported results largely above market expectations for the first nine months of 2025, according to a company-provided poll.

Loss before taxes was 72.7 million euros in the period, while analysts had been expecting a loss of 90 million euros.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization reached 224 million euros, against consensus of 219 million.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by Bernadette Hogg and Emanuele Berro in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)