Sweden's SSAB beats earnings forecast in Q4 (updated)

SSAB AB

28/01/2026 06:36

Adds CEO comments on US tariff benefits in paragraphs 1, 3-4, analyst comment in paragraph 7, details on EU measures in paragraphs 8 and 10

SSAB's Q4 operating profit beats market estimates by 150 million crowns

Tariffs benefit SSAB's US business, but protectionism may harm global producers, CEO says

EU's proposed steel import quotas and carbon rules to aid European market

By Marta Frackowiak

Jan 28 (Reuters) - Swedish steelmaker SSAB SSABa.ST topped market expectations for fourth-quarter operating earnings on Wednesday, benefitting from its significant production footprint in the U.S. as tariffs slashed steel imports into the country.

Steel and aluminium were among the first targets of U.S. President Donald Trump's trade measures last year. These imports from most countries have been subject to raised duties of 50% since June.

"We're clearly seeing that the imports into the United States have dropped to almost nothing," SSAB CEO Johnny Sjostrom told Reuters.

Reduced competition from imported steel has been a short-term benefit for SSAB's U.S.-based production, Sjostrom said. However, while protectionism can support prices in the near term, it is negative in the longer run for a global producer like SSAB, he added.

SSAB's operating earnings soared 55% to 756 million Swedish crowns ($86 million) in the fourth quarter, comfortably beating analysts' average estimate of 606.1 million crowns in a poll compiled by SME Direkt.

The company, which makes specialized high-strength steels used in cars, construction machinery and agricultural equipment, shipped 1.5 million metric tons of steel globally in the final quarter of 2025, and said it expected higher shipments in the first quarter of 2026 due to seasonally stronger demand.

Analysts from Jefferies said this outlook was "supportive", while policy-driven tailwinds meant the medium-term outlook for the European steel sector was structurally better than in the past.

EU MEASURES

In October, the European Commission proposed cutting steel import quotas in half and imposing a 50% duty on shipments that exceed those limits in a bid to preserve viable steelmaking in the European Union, a move welcomed by European steelmakers.

SSAB also expects the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which tightens rules on high-emission imports such as steel and cracks down on attempts to evade the levy, to improve the supply-demand balance in Europe.

The EU's proposed "made in Europe" rules for public purchases of green technologies are likely to have a limited short-term impact, but they will support a longer-term shift toward low- and zero-carbon steel production, Sjostrom said.

($1 = 8.8028 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Marta Frąckowiak in Gdańsk; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)

((marta.frackowiak@thomsonreuters.com))