The steelmaker on Friday reported it was expecting a before-tax profit of $340 million for the first half of this financial year - a 30 per cent improvement on the January-June figure of $261.6 million.

This came after BlueScope declined to give any guidance on future income at its full-year profit announcement in August due to uncertainty brought on by COVID-19.

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BlueScope CEO Mark Vassella said he was pleased with the result, which was in part driven by an increase in renovations and home building.

."Despite the global disruption caused by COVID-19, we've had a solid performance from all our operating segments for the three months to September 30," Mr Vassella said.

"This is a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of BlueScope's strategy and resilience of our asset portfolio.

"Benchmark steel spreads have improved and demand in most of our markets is robust."

The Australian sector, including the Port Kembla steelworks, is expected to deliver a slightly better half-year result than in January-June 2020.

"Domestic demand has continued to be strong driven by the construction and distribution segments," Mr Vassella said.

A return to stability in the vehicle manufacturing sector has seen BlueScope's US operations working at full capacity.

The Asian and New Zealand sectors were also expected to improve on their figures from the first half of this year.

However, the BlueScope CEO said there was still potential for COVID-19 to cause damage to the BlueScope bottom line.

"There remains uncertainty in the current environment given the risks of the evolving impact of COVID-19 and the potential for second and third waves which could disrupt demand, supply chains and operations," Mr Vassella said.

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