BlueScope Steel has recorded a 90% plunge in after tax profit for the financial year to June 30, 2025 (FY2025). Profit dropped to $83.8 million from $805.7 million achieved the year before. Underlying EBIT of $738.2 million for FY2025 was $601.0 million down on FY2024. In a statement released to the Australian Stock Exchange on August 18, BlueScope Steel´s Managing Director and CEO, Mark Vassella said: “Whilst a softer performance than last year, this level of profitability in the face of the cyclically soft conditions and global uncertainty during the year represents a resilient result, underpinned by our diversified portfolio of quality assets and multi-domestic strategy”. On a call to journalists, Mr Vassella said that US-imposed tariffs had created a “maze” of uncertainty. He said a recently-proposed 50% tariff on Brazilian pig iron, which was later reversed, highlighted the volatility of trade policy. “There’s lots of movement, there’s lots of volatility and variability. It’s had some impact on demand as people just try and understand what the implications are before they make commitments or bets on inventory,” Mr Vassella said of the tariffs. Yet, ironically, BlueScope has said it considers itself a net beneficiary

of the tariffs because it ships a small amount of steel from Australia to the US relative to what it produces in the United States.

BlueScope´s figures were down across all regions. In Australia, the company delivered underlying EBIT of $261.6 million, which was 31% lower than FY2024. The company´s North America division, its biggest earner, posted underlying earnings of $514.4 million for the year, down 45%, mostly due to lower selling prices. “Disappointingly, there has been a delay in achieving our expectations of the BlueScope Coated Products business which we acquired in 2022, and an impairment of $439 million has been recorded. It remains core to our North American growth strategy and we continue to invest in the turnaround of the business,” Mr Vassella said. BlueScope´s Asia businesses delivered underlying EBIT of $138.8 million, 13% lower than FY2024. Meanwhile, New Zealand experienced significantly softer domestic despatches across FY2025 on sustained macroeconomic weakness and subsequent impacts on construction activity.

“Operating cash flow for the year was $180 million, lower than FY2024 due to softer earnings and higher capital expenditure, as we invest to secure long-term sustainable earnings and growth,” said Mr Vassella. “Despite the lower operating cash flow, BlueScope again finished the year with a robust balance sheet, with $28 million net debt,” he added. BlueScope returned $293 million to shareholders in FY2025 as part of its ongoing objective to distribute at least 50% of free cash flow in the form of consistent dividends and on-market buy-backs.

The ASX statement said BlueScope is progressing a cost and productivity improvement program, with a target of delivering a $200 million net improvement in FY2026, on the FY2024 cost base. Additionally, the company is looking to realise value from its 1,200 hectares portfolio of surplus and adjacent landholdings, to commence in FY2026. “These initiatives, combined with the potential for upside in steel spreads from their current cyclically and historically low levels, even allowing for any unfavourable reversion in AUD / USD exchange rates, position BlueScope well for earnings growth in the coming years,” Mr Vassella said. The company expects underlying EBIT in the first half of FY2026 to be in the range of $550 – $620 million, subject to spread, foreign exchange and market conditions.

On the topic of BlueScope´s involvement in a consortium to buy the Whyalla Steelworks, Mr Vassella expressed cautious optimism. “This is a wicked problem, and one we are not [yet] committed to doing anything at all,” he said, of the Whyalla project. “We’ve got optionality, we’ve got the right partners”. BlueScope has assembled a consortium with global steelmakers Nippon Steel, JSW Steel and POSCO to bid for the facility. The consortium aims to transform Whyalla into a hub for low-emissions steel production, aligning with Australia’s broader industrial strategy.

In further news of government support being sought and granted, on August 5 it was announced that international metals producer, Nyrstar Australia, will receive a $135 million bailout from the federal, South Australian and Tasmanian governments to support its struggling businesses in Port Pirie and Hobart. In June, Nyrstar CEO, Matt Howell, told the ABC that its Port Pirie operation was losing tens of millions of dollars a month and that its Hobart zinc smelter could not operate independently of Port Pirie if the latter were to go under. Nyrstar claims China has distorted the metals market by subsidising Chinese companies to purchase Australian raw materials at inflated prices that Australian smelters cannot afford. China then subsidises the processing of those materials into metals while also placing export controls over the finished product, Nyrstar has claimed.

As part of the $135 million, the federal government will contribute $57.5 million, with $55 million and $22.5 million to come from the SA and Tasmanian governments respectively. The federal government said the money will be spent on feasibility studies into “critical metals production” at Nyrstar, which is looking to expand production to antimony and bismuth at Port Pirie and germanium and indium at Hobart. Part of that involves the creation of a pilot plant at Port Pirie for the production of antimony: a metal used in munitions and electronics.

“The fact that this site can produce 40% of all the antimony required by the United States for critical tasks such as the hardening of bullets demonstrates the vitalness of these sites … and the absolute importance of Pirie and Hobart,” said Richard Holtum, CEO of Trafigura, the parent company of Nyrstar. The South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas, has also accused China of deliberate market manipulation. “The best way to address that is to invest in Pirie’s future in terms of moving up the value chain of what it produces. Antimony sells for somewhere between US $30,000 and US $40,000 a tonne. That is a potentially very lucrative exercise,” Mr Malinauskas said.

Finally, in a sign of the times, Rio Tinto has reported its smallest first-half underlying profit since 2020 and its lowest interim dividend in seven years. Amid falling iron ore prices and rising costs in Australia, the world’s largest iron ore producer posted underlying earnings of US $4.81 billion for the six months to June 30. This was down 16% from a year earlier. Prices the miner received for its iron ore fell by 15%, though that was partly offset by stronger prices for copper, bauxite, alumina, aluminium and gold.