Steel Dynamics sees steel consumption ‘solid’ in 2H24

“We remain confident that market conditions are in place for domestic steel consumption to be solid in the second half of 2024,” said Millett. “Order entry has improved in many of our businesses, and we expect steel pricing to firm. We believe the automotive, non-residential construction, and industrial sectors will remain steady this year. The continued onshoring of manufacturing businesses, combined with the expectation of significant fixed asset investment to be derived from public funding related to the U.S. Infrastructure, Inflation Reduction Act, and Department of Energy programs, will competitively position the domestic steel industry. We believe this will benefit all of our operating platforms, especially our steel and steel fabrication businesses. “We continue to ramp up our four new value-added flat rolled steel coating lines that began operating earlier this year. The teams have produced prime quality galvanized and painted products on all four lines in record time. We will be benefitting from this additional 1.1 million tons of value-added steel products in the second half of this year and fully in 2025. These projects enhance our differentiated supply-chain capabilities, while also increasing our higher-margin steel product offerings which already represent upwards of 65 percent of our steel revenues. “We are also quickly progressing on our aluminum flat rolled products mill construction and are incredibly excited about this meaningful growth opportunity, which is aligned with our existing business and operational expertise,” said Millett. “We plan to begin operating the aluminum flat rolled mill mid-2025. We have intentionally grown with our customers’ needs, providing efficient sustainable supply chain solutions for the highest quality products. We are pleased to further diversify our end markets with plans to supply aluminum flat rolled products with high recycled content to the countercyclical sustainable beverage can and packaging industry, in addition to the automotive, industrial, and construction sectors. Our customers and our people are incredibly excited for this growth opportunity. “Our commitment is to the health and safety of our teams, families, and communities, while meeting the current and future needs of our customers. Our culture and business model continue to positively differentiate our performance from the rest of the industry. We are competitively positioned and focused to generate long-term sustainable value,” concluded Millett.