FORT WAYNE, Ind., Sept. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ/GS: STLD) today petitioned the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to apply antidumping duties against imports of corrosion resistant flat rolled steel (CORE) from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, UAE, and Vietnam, and countervailing duties against imports of CORE from Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Vietnam. The company was joined by four other organizations in at least one or more of these cases.
“Between the first half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, imports of CORE from the ten subject countries surged from less than 1.25 million tons to almost two million tons, a significant 57 percent increase. The surge of unfairly traded imports of CORE has had a significant negative impact on the domestic steel industry’s volume, prices, and profits, necessitating these cases,” said Barry T. Schneider, President and Chief Operating Officer.
CORE steel is used in various market sectors, including in the production of automobiles, appliances, and in many construction applications. CORE products consist of hot rolled and cold rolled steel, which has been coated with zinc, and in some cases aluminum, and may be painted or have other coatings applied to make the product corrosion resistant. The present annual U.S. market demand for these products is over 20 million tons.
“Steel Dynamics has invested $3.7 billion in our steel divisions since June 2019, including investments in a new state-of-the-art 3.0-million-ton electric arc furnace flat rolled steel mill, four flat rolled galvanizing lines with Galvalume® capability, and three flat rolled paint lines. Corrosion-resistant flat rolled steel is a strategically important product to the domestic steel industry, and the restoration of fair trade is critically important,” said Christopher A. Graham, Senior Vice President, Flat Roll Steel Group.
Under the unfair trade statutes, the DOC must determine whether to initiate the requested investigations within 20 days, and the ITC must make a preliminary determination of injury within 45 days. Subject to initiation, the company expects preliminary determinations on subsidies later this year and on dumping early next year, though these determinations are subject to extension. Final rulings by both agencies should be completed by October 2025.
About Steel Dynamics, Inc.
Steel Dynamics is one of the largest domestic steel producers and metals recyclers in North America, based on estimated annual steelmaking and metals recycling capability, with facilities located throughout the United States, and in Mexico. Steel Dynamics produces steel products, including hot roll, cold roll, and coated sheet steel, structural steel beams and shapes, rail, engineered special-bar-quality steel, cold finished steel, merchant bar products, specialty steel sections, and steel joists and deck. In addition, the company produces liquid pig iron and processes and sells ferrous and nonferrous scrap.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains some predictive statements about future events, including statements related to conditions in domestic or global economies, conditions in steel, aluminum, and recycled metals market places, our revenues, costs of purchased materials, future profitability and earnings, and the operation of new, existing or planned facilities and decarbonization goals and sustainability efforts. These statements, which we generally precede or accompany by such typical conditional words as “anticipate”, “intend”, “believe”, “estimate”, “plan”, “seek”, “project”, or “expect”, or by the words “may”, “will”, or “should”, are intended to be made as “forward-looking”, subject to many risks and uncertainties, within the safe harbor protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements speak only as of this date and are based upon information and assumptions, which we consider reasonable as of this date, concerning our businesses and the environments in which they operate. Such predictive statements are not guarantees of future performance, and we undertake no duty to update or revise any such statements. Some factors that could cause such forward-looking statements to turn out differently than anticipated include: (1) domestic and global economic factors; (2) global steelmaking overcapacity and imports of steel, together with increased scrap prices; (3) pandemics, epidemics, widespread illness or other health issues; (4) the cyclical nature of the steel industry and the industries we serve; (5) volatility and major fluctuations in prices and availability of scrap metal, scrap substitutes and supplies, and our potential inability to pass higher costs on to our customers; (6) cost and availability of electricity, natural gas, oil, and other energy resources are subject to volatile market conditions; (7) increased environmental, greenhouse gas emissions and sustainability considerations from our customers or related regulations; (8) compliance with and changes in environmental and remediation requirements; (9) significant price and other forms of competition from other steel and aluminum producers, scrap processors and alternative materials; (10) availability of an adequate source of supply of scrap for our metals recycling operations; (11) cybersecurity threats and risks to the security of our sensitive data and information technology; (12) the implementation of our growth strategy; (13) litigation and legal compliance; (14) unexpected equipment downtime or shutdowns; (15) governmental agencies may refuse to grant or renew some of our licenses and permits required to operate our business; (16) our senior unsecured credit facility contains, and any future financing agreements may contain, restrictive covenants that may limit our flexibility; and (17) the impacts of impairment charges.
More specifically, we refer you to our more detailed explanation of these and other factors and risks that may cause such predictive statements to turn out differently, as set forth in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K under the headings Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors, in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, or in other reports which we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are available publicly on the Securities and Exchange Commission website, www.sec.gov, and on our website, www.steeldynamics.com under “Investors – SEC Filings.”
SOURCE Steel Dynamics, Inc.
