Steel Products

SDI Columbus EAF Down ~10 Days on Unplanned Outage
Written by Michael Cowden
June 24, 2021
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) is making repairs after an unplanned outage at an electric-arc furnace (EAF) at its flat-rolled steel mill in Columbus, Miss., according the company’s top executive.
The outage, which occurred last weekend, is expected to result in approximately 10 days of lost production, or about 25,000-30,000 tons of hot metal, SDI President and CEO Mark Millett said in an email to Steel Market Update.
The incident happened when hot metal burned through one of the mill’s two EAFs. “There was no explosion, but a large amount of molten metal poured into the slag pit. There were no injuries,” he said.
Radiant heat also burned some wiring on the No. 1 furnace and resulted in it being down for approximately 10-12 hours, he said.
SDI has two EAFS at the Columbus mill with a combined annual capacity of 3.1 million tons per year, according to the Association for Iron & Steel Technology’s 2021 Directory of Iron and Steel Plants.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Products

CRU tariff webinar replay now available
CRU’s latest webinar replay on how Trump’s tariffs affect the global steel market is now available on our website to all members. After logging in at steelmarketupdate.com, visit the community tab and look under the “previous webinars” section of the dropdown menu. You’ll find not only this special CRU webinar but also all past Community […]

US, offshore CRC prices diverge
US cold-rolled (CR) coil prices declined this week, slipping for the first time since early February. Most offshore markets deviated, moving higher this week.

Construction growth slowed in March on tariff woes: Dodge
The decline comes after reaching a record high in January to kickstart the year.

Return of S232 zapped gap between US and EU HR prices, Asian HR remains cheaper
Domestic hot-rolled (HR) coil prices declined this week for a third straight week. Most offshore markets bucked the trend and gained ground. Uncertainty in the US market around tariffs, especially after “Liberation Day,” caused US prices to slip as buyers moved to the sidelines. It’s unclear to date whether the 90-day pause on the more […]

SMU Steel Demand Index momentum slows further
SMU’s Steel Demand Index growth eased again, according to early April indicators. The slowdown comes after the index reached a four-year high in late February.