Outokumpu, a Finnish stainless steel producer, has released its fiscal year 2022 report on its website. Outokumpu, whose core business is making stainless steel crude steel and ferrochrome, reported lower ferrochrome production in the fourth quarter of 2022 and for the full fiscal year, compared with 2021. Ferrochrome production was 69,000 tons in the fourth quarter of 2022 (125,000 tons in the fourth quarter of 2021), down 45% year-over-year and 34% sequentially compared to the third quarter of 2022. Annual ferrochrome production in 2022 was 430,000 tons (2021 515,000 tons), down 17% year-on-year.
The report noted that the decline in ferrochrome production was mainly due to high electricity prices forcing plants to shut down and optimize capacity, while the company's surplus in the ferrochrome market continued to decline in the fourth quarter along with reduced production.
Outokumpu has a total capital expenditure of €40m in 2023 and 2024 to promote energy efficiency on a number of projects, of which around 7% has been completed in the fourth quarter of 2022. In terms of the ferrochrome production project, as the maintenance interruption time set in October is earlier than the original plan, the company will restart one of the three ferrochrome furnaces on February 15, 2023. However, the other ferrochrome furnaces broke down recently and will be repaired in the second quarter of 2023, and combined with the continuous rise of electricity price caused by the energy crisis in Europe, Ferrochrome production is expected to remain at 50-60% of full capacity in the first quarter of 2023.
