Steel Products

SMU Steel Summit: Mill Execs to Take the Hot Seat

April 10, 2019

The steel industry is on the brink of a capacity boom as mills reinvest their record profits in dozens of mill additions and upgrades. What will that mean for steel supply and prices in the coming years? Who better to answer that question than the chief executives from four of North America’s leading steel producers—JSW USA, Nucor, Steel Dynamics and Ternium—all of which have announced major capital projects. Steel Market Update has recruited them for a panel at SMU’s Steel Summit Aug. 26-28 in Atlanta, during which the competitors will likely join forces to defend their actions and address the market’s fears that oversupply will inevitably undermine steel prices.

Newest in the mix is JSW USA with aggressive plans for expansion. Backed by India-based Jindal Steel, the company has announced a billion dollars in planned upgrades to its Mingo Junction mill (formerly Wheeling-Pitt) and the addition of an EAF adjacent to its plate and pipe mill near Houston.

JSW USA will be represented on the panel by President and CEO John Hritz, who has a long resume in the steel business as both a corporate attorney and engineer, including leadership roles with Marubeni-Itochu Steel America Inc., AK Steel and Algoma Steel.

Nucor has a number of projects in the works. The steelmaker has announced more than $2 billion in investments in the state of Kentucky alone. They include a $1.35 billion mill in Brandenburg capable of producing 1.2 million tons of plate products each year. Nucor has two additional projects under way at its Gallatin sheet mill including a new galvanizing line expected to be operational in the second quarter and its project to increase Gallatin’s hot rolled coil capacity at expanded widths of up to 73 inches, expected to come online in 2021.

Representing Nucor on SMU’s panel will be Ladd Hall, executive vice president of flat-rolled products. Hall has had a long and distinguished career in various sales and management roles with Nucor and its subsidiaries dating back to 1981.

Steel Dynamics Inc. made a big splash with its 2014 purchase of Severstal’s Columbus, Miss., mill, increasing SDI’s total production capacity by 40 percent. More recently, SDI has announced its intention to invest more than $1.7 billion in a new EAF flat rolled mill somewhere in the southwestern U.S., possibly near Corpus Christi, Texas.

Mark Millett, president and CEO, will represent SDI on SMU’s panel. Millett is a co-founder of SDI and has held a variety of senior management positions and served on the board of directors since the company’s inception in 1993. Prior to the formation of SDI, Millett worked for Nucor for 12 years.

Mill investment is not confined to the United States. Mexico’s Ternium plans to spend $1.42 billion in the next four years on various projects. They include a new hot rolling mill at the company’s Pesqueria industrial center in Nuevo Leon, to have an annual production capacity of 3.7 million metric tons.

Cesar Jimenez, Ternium CEO, will bring an international perspective to SMU’s steel summit panel. Prior to becoming president, Jimenez served in other commercial roles at Ternium dating back to 2007, including CEO of Tenigal, where he remains a member of the board.

Click here for more information on the mill panel and other speakers scheduled for Steel Market Update’s Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta this summer.