Steel Products

SDI Expects Sinton To Be Back Up in Next Few Days

July 20, 2023

The hot end of Steel Dynamics Inc.’s (SDI) Sinton, Texas, sheet mill is expected to be back up and running in the next few days. Executives made the announcement on the company’s second quarter earnings conference call with analysts on Thursday, July 20.

On July 7, SDI announced an unplanned outage at the hot mill, caused by caster shear equipment issues that occurred on July 1. At the time, it said it expected that portion of the mill would be down for two to four weeks. The cold rolled mill and value add lines remained in operation during the outage.

Co-founder, chairman, and CEO Mark Millett said on the call that repairs are well under way and the mill “should be starting in the next few days.”

The hot mill was running at 52-55% when it was shut down. He said the plans are to progressively ramp up to an 80% run rate by the end of the year.

The company expects an “even pace of ramp up” in the second half of the year “to get to 80%. It will reach 100% very quickly in 2024,” executive VP and CFO Theresa Wagler added.

The company expects the total loss of volume related to the outage to be 50,000 to 70,000 tons, according to Wagler .

President and COO Barry Schneider said that the company “took this opportunity to address a couple other issues” at the mill as well. He and Millett were down at the mill for moral support during the outage. “We anticipate this problem to be behind us,” he stated.

While the equipment and reliability issues at Sinton have been frustrating, it’s still a state-of-the-art mill, Millett reminded those on the call. “The team will get it running full blast in time,” he said, and it “will be the technology of choice going forward.”

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.