According to the sales performance report released by AK Steel, a leading steel producer in the US, the firm’s shipments of flat-rolled steel products totaled around 1.39 million tons in the second quarter of this year, decreasing by nearly 3.4% compared to the same period a year ago, while slightly up by 0.2% from the previous quarter. The decrease was mainly due to the decline in sales of the automotive market, meeting expectations.

Among them, the shipment of stainless steel and electrical steel slid by around 10.4% year on year and 4% quarter on quarter respectively, reaching 198,000 tons roughly.

In the first half of 2019, the shipment of flat-rolled products fell by nearly 3.2% year on year to around 2.78 million tons, of which the shipment of stainless steel and electrical steel dropped by nearly 4.1% year on year to 410,000 tons roughly.