Finland-based stainless steel producer Outokumpu said Monday it has seen a small upturn in stainless demand and is cautiously optimistic about forward prospects.
CEO Mika Seitovirta told the company's annual general meeting of shareholders that last year the market had been weaker than expected, but the first quarter of 2014 saw a "modest improvement in the underlying market demand [and] sequentially higher delivery volumes."
There had also been "some improvement" in selling prices, the CEO added.
Seitovirta said: "While there are clouds that cause continued uncertainty, especially in the European economy, we remain cautiously optimistic about the market sentiment."
Outokumpu is expecting to report continued losses for the January-March quarter, but these should be less than in the previous quarter. It will report Q1 results on April 29.
Seitovirta told the meeting that Outokumpu is stronger financially than it was a year ago, having reduced its debt, raised new funds from a share issue, and reached agreement with German labor unions that will allow it to proceed with the closure of its Bochum melt shop and other restructuring measures "at an accelerated pace."
The company's focus now is to ramp up its US plant in Calvert, Alabama and complete its restructuring in Europe.
"As the reduction of excess capacity continues to increase our utilization rates, the investments in Calvert and ferrochrome start to pay off, and the savings from our synergy and cost-saving programmes accumulate, the turnaround plan will start to show in our results as well," Seitovirta said.