As recently as a few months ago BlueScope said the plant was in the red but CEO Paul O’Malley on Monday said Port Kembla’s fortunes were rising.

The news came as the steelmaker announced a full-year profit of $353.8 million – a 160 per cent jump on the same time last year.

Mr O’Malley said the colour of Port Kembla’s ink was dependent on the fluctuations of the price of steel but it’s “close” to turning a regular profit.

“Steel prices bounce around, the margins bounce around,” Mr O’Malley said.

“In the best margins we’ve seen in the last three to four months it’s in the black, at the worst margins we’ve seen in the last three to months it’s in the red.

“It’s looking more black than red but there’s still some red from time to time.”

Part of the reason for the massive uptick in profits was the successful adoption of Plan A – which called for $200 million in cuts to keep Port Kembla open.

These cuts will also keep paying off for the next 12 months, Mr O’Malley said, with a further $280 million in savings flowing through to financial year 2016-17.

Mr O’Malley said Plan A meant it was “game on rather than game over” for the company and Port Kembla, which is now the recipient of capital investment.

“To be frank, if we hadn’t achieved what we achieved, we’d be in shutdown mode,” he said.

“But we’re still employing and we’re still investing.

“We’re now focused on the next 10 years and beyond so we’re actually focused on the future and not on survival.”

Part of that focus includes the possibility of a reline of the blast furnace, which is was on the horizon in 10 to 15 years – as long as it was financially worthwhile.

“We’ve got to demonstrate a track record of performance to justify a significant investment that would extend the life of that asset for another 25 years,” Mr O’Malley said.

The changes in the global steel market over the last 12 months was also a factor in BlueScope’s bottom line.

Mr O’Malley said the global steel market a year ago was the worst the company had seen since BlueScope came into being in 2002.

In recent months, however, Mr O’Malley said the steel market had seen a “turnaround” after loss-making steel producers across the world slowed down their production.

“That slowdown in steel was a bit of a self-correction and now the price has gone up again,” Mr O’Malley said.

“But I think perhaps it has overshot and we expect steel prices to moderate a bit in the coming year but it’s certainly better today than it was a year ago.”