United States Steel Corp. expects third quarter results will be below the current range of earnings estimates reported by investment analysts. The company says that in late October, it will report significant declines in income for the Flat-rolled and U. S. Steel Europe segments, compared to second quarter results.

Higher costs, stagnant shipments, lower prices — Natural gas and scrap prices are increasing, and Flat-rolled costs are expected to be somewhat higher than second quarter costs. Flat-rolled steel shipments are now expected to be slightly below second quarter levels. Flat-rolled average realized prices are expected to be moderately lower than the second quarter. Prices have trended lower during the third quarter, reflecting the bottoming of spot-market prices.

In Europe, a blast furnace outage at U. S. Steel Kosice has expanded in scope and schedule, and this furnace is scheduled to return to production in mid-October. Third quarter shipments in Europe will be below second quarter, and raw material costs will decline less than the company's prior expectations. Spot-market prices have substantially declined in the third quarter compared to the second quarter.

Order rates have strengthened both domestically and in Europe and are expected to support higher operating levels when the two blast furnace projects are completed and the furnaces are returned to production. Tubular markets and operations remain strong.