After the better part of two years of cutting costs and focusing on operations while waiting for demand from auto makers to climb, the leaders of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. say the stars have aligned for a big jump in profits in the rest of 2026 and next year.
After a second quarter in which the steel manufacturer reported a $134 million net loss on revenues of more than $5.2 billion that were held down in part by extensive maintenance work, Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves and his team said July 23 they expect production to increase roughly 300,000 net tons from Q2’s 4.0 million tons thanks to strong demand, with automotive customers expected to account for about half of that rise.
That extra volume, combined with a price per net ton that’s expected to be $55 higher than in the spring and slightly lower production costs, should lead to a big jump in Cliffs’ adjusted EBITDA, which was $286M in Q2. Goncalves said the target for the third quarter is $575 million, a number that should grow further in the last three months of the year.
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