Steel Mills

SDI presses on with steel, aluminum investments

October 17, 2024

Steel Dynamics Inc. remains optimistic about its prospects as it ramps up flat-rolled steel operations and prepares for the production of aluminum products next year.

Executives from the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker provided an update on the company’s operations on a conference call on Thursday held to discuss SDI’s third-quarter earnings results.

Flat-rolled steel segment

SDI’s Q3 shipments of flat-rolled steel inched 1% higher from the previous quarter to just under 2.4 million short tons (st). Compared to the year-ago quarter, flat rolled shipments were 7% higher.

During the quarter, the company shipped 942,000 st of hot-rolled steel, 118,000 st of cold-rolled sheet, and 1,335,000 st of coated products.

Sinton sheet mill

The Sinton, Texas, sheet mill has faced numerous challenges and outages. But it’s also seen significant improvements in reliability and utilization, executives on the call said.

SDI President and COO Barry Schneider said that, early in Q3, the Sinton team experienced some difficulty ramping back up after a four-day outage.

Sinton operated at 72% utilization in Q3. SDI expects that rate to increase to 75% in Q4 and to reach full production capacity in 2025.

New coating lines

SDI’s four new coating lines – two each at the mills in Sinton, Texas, and Terre Haute, Ind. – were successfully commissioned and have commenced operations.

All four of the new lines are operating at 65-75% of capacity, Schneider said on the call.

CEO Mark Millett added, “The volume throughput on those lines is a little inhibited right now because of the hot side not (being) at full capacity.”

At Sinton, “The additional lines really allow us to have a more efficient operation between our galvanized coatings and our Galvalume coatings,” Schneider said.

The new lines in Terre Haute are improving the facility’s reach into more markets. The Galvalume and prepaint offerings there have opened relationships with new, as well as existing, customers in that region, he said.

Aluminum – a new market for SDI

Next year, SDI will officially become a producer of flat-rolled aluminum products.

Millett said the company’s new facility in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, will start producing slabs in Q1’25.

And at the greenfield rolling operations in Columbus, Miss., SDI plans to commission the casthouse in Q1’25 and two downstream lines in Q2’25.

SDI expects commercial shipments at the facility, also known as Aluminum Dynamics Inc. (ADI), to begin in mid-2025. The company expects the rolling mill to reach 75% of its 650,000-metric-tons-per-year capacity by the end of 2026.

“The excitement within our company, and particularly at the ADI sites, continues to grow as our teams recognize their ability to help revolutionize the US aluminum industry, as they did in steel,” Millett said.

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.