 | |
| Company type | Publicly tradedAktiebolag |
|---|---|
| Nasdaq Stockholm:SSAB A,SSAB B Nasdaq Helsinki:SSABAH,SSABBH | |
| ISIN | |
| Industry | Steel |
| Founded | 1978; 47 years ago (1978) |
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden |
Key people | |
| Revenue |  103.42 billionkr (2024)[3] |
| 7.86 billion kr (2024)[3] | |
| 6.53 billion kr (2024)[3] | |
| Total assets |  110.73 billion kr (2024)[3] |
| Total equity | 71.02 billion kr (2024)[3] |
| Owner | LKAB (10.85%) Government of Finland (6.5%)[4] |
Number of employees | 14,618 (2024)[3] |
| Website | www |
SSAB AB, earlierSvensktStålAB (English: Swedish Steel) (Nasdaq Stockholm:SSAB A,SSAB B) is a Swedish company, formed in 1978, that specialises in producingsteel. The largest shareholders are theSwedish state-owned mining companyLKAB, and theGovernment of Finland.[4]
Svenskt Stål AB was established on 1 January 1978, following aSwedish parliamentary decision to merge three struggling steel companies:Domnarvets Ironworks, Norrbottens Järnverk AB (NJA), and Oxelösunds Ironworks.[5][6] The merger was proposed by a government-led investigation to consolidate Sweden's struggling steel industry.
At its founding, SSAB was 50% owned by the Swedish state and 25% each by Gränges andStora Kopparberg. Björn Wahlström, managing director of NJA, led the merger negotiations and became SSAB's first managing director. The company initially employed approximately 18,000 workers across various operations.
The initial years were financially challenging, with losses recorded between 1978 and 1981. The company restructured by closing unprofitable operations and focusing on specific products and locations. In 1982, SSAB reported its first profitable year. Ownership changes followed, with Stora selling its stake to the Swedish state in 1981, and Gränges being acquired byElectrolux. SSAB further focused on steel production and was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1989.[7]
In 1987, a new restructuring plan led to the concentration of production within certain areas. The company formed subsidiaries SSAB Tunnplåt AB (for thin sheet steel production) and SSABOxelösund AB. A third subsidiary, SSAB Profiler, was also established but later sold to Ovako Steel. TheDomnarvet electrosteel plant was closed in 1989, moving focus to continuous casting fromLuleå.[8]
Following its stock market listing, the Swedish state gradually reduced its own ownership in SSAB, fully divesting direct ownership by 1992. The same year, SSAB acquired Korrugals band-coating line inFinspång and introduced the "Sträng 5" continuous casting line in Luleå. In 1993, a CAS-OB facility was established in Luleå, and SSAB Laminated Steel AB inRonneby was integrated into SSAB Tunnplåt. Significant investments included a new pre-rolling mill inBorlänge in 1999 and a new blast furnace (Masugn 3) in Luleå in 2000.[9]
In 2008, SSAB acquired the American steel producer IPSCO, which operated mills inMontpelier, Iowa, andMobile, Alabama. These facilities focused on scrap-based steel production using electric arc furnaces rather than blast furnaces.[10]
In 2014, SSAB acquired Finnish steel producerRautaruukki for €1.1 bn.[11] The acquisition increased SSAB's steel production capacity by 2.6 million tons. Following the merger, Finnish state-owned Solidium became SSAB's third-largest shareholder after Industrivärden andLKAB. Key Rautaruukki production facilities that remained operational included the steel plant inRaahe and the sheet and pipe manufacturing facility inHämeenlinna.[12]
In 2021, SSAB produced the world's first fossil-free steel using hydrogen instead of coke-based processes. The steel was delivered toVolvo Group for testing.[13] Today, SSAB operates under three main divisions: SSAB Special Steels, SSAB Europe, and SSAB Americas. It also owns subsidiaries Ruukki Construction and Tibnor.[14] The company's product brands include SSAB Domex, Hardox, Docol, GreenCoat, Armox, and Toolox.[15]
SSAB also sponsors the Swedish Steel Prize and has been involved in various government-supported research programs, such as the "Steel Eco-System" initiative.[16]
In 2024, SSAB announced that it would build its €4.5 billion fossil-free steel mill inLuleå, Sweden, rather than inRaahe, Finland. The decision, which was made after considering both locations, is expected to reduce Sweden's carbon dioxide emissions by 7% upon completion in 2028.[17]
SSAB has its production sites in Sweden, Finland, and the United States.[18] The company also maintains smaller operations elsewhere, including a processing facility inKunshan nearShanghai, China.[19] and distribution hubs in the Baltic region.[18]
The production is located atLuleå,Borlänge,Oxelösund andFinspång.[20] SSAB is the largest steel sheet manufacturer in Scandinavia, with its blast furnace, coking plant, and steelworks located in Luleå and its rolling mills and coating plants in Borlänge—the initial product is sent from one location to the other via train. The division also has a coil coating line, lamination line, and special steels production. SSAB Special Steels in Oxelösund is the only steelworks in Sweden to have its entire vertical production base in one place, from raw material handling to its rolling plates. Ninety percent of its production is exported, with its chief export partner being Germany.[20] SSAB produces nearly all of the steel plates created in Sweden.[21]
SSAB operates two major steel production facilities in Finland, located inRaahe andHämeenlinna. The Raahe plant, originally established asRautaruukki in the 1960s to support Finland’s heavy industry, is one of the youngest integrated steel plants in Europe. It began operations with its firstblast furnace in 1964, followed by an LD steel plant and rolling mills in the subsequent years.[22] The Hämeenlinna facility, which started production in 1972, specialises in processing steel into coated products, including galvanised steel for industries such as automotive manufacturing. It employs approximately 1,000 people.[23] The headquarters for SSAB EuropeOy are located in Hämeenlinna.[24]
IPSCO Inc. began as Prairie Pipe Manufacturing Co., Ltd. inRegina, Saskatchewan in 1956, changing its name to Interprovincial Steel and Pipe Corporation, Ltd. in 1960 and IPSCO, Inc. in 1984;[25][26] the company would later be purchased by SSAB, and is the origin of SSAB's operations in the region. All SSAB operations in North America are now operated as SSAB Americas.[27]
As of 2000, IPSCO had usedmini mills to produceflat-rolled steel for 40 years.[28] Late in 2001, the company officially opened anAxis, Alabama mill (in theMobile area), with a capacity of 1,250,000 tonnes,. The $US425 millionrolling mill,[26] with mill stand housings believed to be the largest one-piece cast mill housings in the world at 350 tons each,[28] usesscrap steel to produce discrete plate and coiled hot rolled plate.Montpelier, Iowa had a similar facility which began operations in 1997, but this one would serve theGulf coast.[29][30] On 21 October 2008, SSAB announced a $US460 million expansion of the Axis mill to be completed in 2011. The mill already had 400 employees and 350 contractors.[31]
In May 2007, a deal to acquire IPSCO for $US7.7 billion was announced.[27] At the time, IPSCO's annual production was 4.3 million tonnes, with four steel mills and eleven pipe mills.[32] On 17 July 2008, SSAB announced the completion of the deal. John Tulloch succeeded the retiring David Sutherland as IPSCO president and became an executive vice president of SSAB.[33]
On 17 March 2008,Evraz Group SA announced it would buy SSAB's Canada pipe and plate business and thesteel tube business of the American IPSCO unit for $US4.3 billion after steel prices rose and thedollar fell. Evraz also planned to sell some of the American assets for $US1.7 billion toOAO TMK.[34] IPSCO had 4300 employees, with 70% of its operation in the United States and 30% in Canada.[35]
After the sale, SSAB changed the name of its North American operation to SSAB North American Division (NAD), then later to SSAB Americas; headquarters stayed inLisle, Illinois, USA. Included in this division were steel operations in Mobile and Montpelier, and cut-to-length lines inSt. Paul, Minnesota andHouston, Texas, USA; andToronto, Ontario, Canada. David Britten succeeded Tulloch as president. Paul Wilson, with 36 years of industry experience, ten of those with SSAB including management of Mobile's steel operation, became the vice president in charge of the American steel operations.[36] In 2018 the SSAB Americas division relocated its headquarters to Mobile, Alabama.[37]
SSAB's major brands include:[38]
SSAB reported TotalCO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for 31 December 2020 at 9,989 Kt (−766 /-7.1% y-o-y).[39] This is a higher rate of decline than over the period since 4Q'14 (−1.1% CAGR).
| Dec 2014 | Dec 2015 | Dec 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2018 | Dec 2019 | Dec 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,798[40] | 10,581[41] | 11,154[42] | 11,083[43] | 10,938[44] | 10,755[45] | 9,989[39] |
