SDI presses on with steel, aluminum investments

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.