Swedish specialty steel maker SSAB said that it had seen sudden erosion in demand in November 2008. It added that it expected its fourth quarter deliveries to fall compared with a year earlier.

SSAB said that "Demand for steel has fallen rapidly in November and thus appears to be weaker than was anticipated in SSAB's report for the third quarter of 2008. SSAB's deliveries during the fourth quarter of 2008 are expected to decline compared with the same period of 2007."

Analysts were however not surprised since many steel producers already have announced cuts in production, and are delaying shipments as well as reassessing expansion and investment plans.

Mr Stefan Ward analyst at Handelsbanken said that "It is basically in line with what we had expected, and compares to what the market has signaled, looking at other steel companies."