SDI has announced it continues to be on track to open its 3mn st Sinton, Texas Greenfield Flat Roll Steel Mill by the middle of 2021.
The company noted during its recent investor call that most equipment suppliers were only marginally affected in their ability to deliver and install in the required period since construction began earlier in 2020.
The new facility is pegged by the company as a Next Generation plant with capabilities that are beyond existing EAF-based sites. Strategically, the site will produce high-strength steel grades for the automotive and energy industries and is also targeting underserved US and Mexican markets that rely on imports at present.
Sinton’s shipments are expected to be 70pc to the US and 30pc to Mexico with a plant product mix of 60pc hot rolled, 12pc pilled and oil, 12pc cold-rolled, 7pc galvanized, and 9pc painted. SDI has approximately one-third of the present 3mn annual capacity committed.
SDI’s steel mill production utilization in Q2 2020 was 79pc, down from 94pc in Q1 2020, but higher than the approximately 55pc production utilization by the US domestic steel industry, the company indicated during its earnings call.
SDI shipped 0.8mn gt of ferrous scrap shipments in Q2 2020, down 33pc from 1.2mn gt in Q1 2020. Around 68pc of 2020 ferrous volumes to date were sold to SDI’s own steel mills compared to 66pc in the same period in 2019. In Q2 2020, 75pc of ferrous scrap volume was sold to SDI’s own steel mills. The firm is forecasted to ship 4.3mn gt of ferrous in 2020 compared to 4.6mn gt in 2019
The Columbus, Mississippi Flat Roll division received a $155mn galvanized line investment previously and produced its first coil in July 2020, the company said. The investment in Columbus is in line with SDI’s strategy to increase value-added product lines throughout its divisions.