Steel Dynamics Details ‘Challenging’ Quarter

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Fort Wayne-based Steel Dynamics Inc. (Nasdaq: STLD) has announced a third quarter net income of $61 million, compared to $91 million during the same quarter a year earlier. Chief Executive Officer Mark Millett says the steel and metals recycling markets continue to be "challenging" due to pressures from foreign imports and pricing.

The company says U.S. steel consumption remained steady in the quarter and steel imports "continued to flood" the market.

A high point for the company was its fabrication operations, which Steel Dynamics says achieved record financial performance with a third quarter operating income of $37 million. That total bested the previous record by 33 percent.

Metal recycling operations were off more than $11.5 million, coming in at $463,000.

Millett adds "ongoing pressure from steel imports remains high, negatively impacting steel pricing and domestic steel production, resulting in industry utilization not fully reflecting the actual strength in U.S. steel consumption. The automotive market remains strong and construction continues its steady improvement. However, customer steel inventories remain at elevated levels and when combined with further declining scrap prices, have resulted in hesitant ordering. As scrap prices stabilize at these lower levels and steel inventories moderate to more normalized quantities into 2016, we believe domestic steel production should improve."

The company also noted the impact from the recent idling of its Minnesota operations.

You can connect to the company’s full quarterly earnings release by clicking here.