Steel Dynamics sees ‘solid’ domestic steel consumption

"We remain confident that market conditions are in place for domestic steel consumption to be solid," said CEO Mark Millett. "Order entry activity continues to be strong across all of our businesses. We believe North American steel consumption will increase in 2023, and that demand for lower-carbon emission, U.S. produced steel products coupled with lower imports will support steel pricing. We believe the automotive, non-residential construction, and energy sectors will remain solid steel consumers this year. Our steel fabrication operations order backlog remains elevated with strong forward pricing levels. The combination of robust order activity and broad customer optimism supports strong overall demand dynamics for the construction industry. This environment, in combination with our existing and recently announced expansion initiatives, are firm drivers for our continued growth in the coming years. We are quickly progressing on our aluminum flat rolled products mill and are incredibly excited about this meaningful growth opportunity, which is aligned with our existing business and operational expertise," said Millett. "The team has placed orders for critical equipment, and the rolling mill site location in Columbus, Mississippi is exceptional. We have intentionally grown with our customers’ needs, providing efficient sustainable supply-chain solutions for the highest quality products. Thus far, this has primarily been achieved within the steel industry – however, a significant number of our flat rolled steel customers are also consumers and processors of aluminum flat rolled 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 industry, in addition to the automotive and industrial sectors. We believe our unique performance-based operating culture, coupled with our considerable experience in successfully constructing and operating cost-effective, highly profitable flat rolled steel mills, positions us exceptionally well to execute this strategic opportunity and to deliver strong long-term value creation. Our customers and our people are also 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.