Distributors/Service Centers

Feralloy, Other Processors Setting Up Shop Near New SDI Mill

April 27, 2021

Feralloy Corporation., a subsidiary of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., is planning to build a massive service center on the site of Steel Dynamics Inc.’s new flat rolled mill under construction in Sinton, Texas, near Corpus Christi. The new warehousing and processing center will be known as Acero Prime-Feralloy Texas. Acero Prime is Feralloy’s subsidiary in Mexico, where it operates four service centers.

Sources tell Steel Market Update that the greenfield service center under construction on seven acres adjacent to SDI’s new mill will have the capacity to process 600,000 tons per year of hot rolled, cold rolled, P&O and galvanized, as well as painted and embossed product. It will house a Fagor light-gauge and a Butech heavy-gauge slitter and a Butech stretcher leveler cut-to-length line, along with a climate-controlled warehouse. Operations are expected to begin in this year’s third quarter. The facility will process steel for supply chains on both sides of the border.

SDI reports that its $1.9-billion Sinton mill is on track to begin operations late this summer. The electric-arc furnace steel mill, with a targeted capacity of 3 million tons per year, will also include two coating lines: a 550,000-ton-per-year galvanizing line with Galvalume capability and a paint line with annual capacity of 250,000 tons.

The new mill has attracted other processors besides Feralloy. JM Steel, an affiliate of JENNMAR, a family-owned company that specializes in ground control technology for the mining, tunneling and civil construction industries, is nearing completion on its facility located next to SDI. JM Steel’s operation initially will include three slitting lines capable of processing 30,000 tons of steel a month, with other equipment to follow. The plant and slitters are scheduled to be operational by June 30, the company said on its website.

Ferrous85” Co., an affiliate of Cleveland’s Ferragon Co., claims to be installing the biggest slitter in North America on the SDI Sinton campus. The slitter will be able to handle toll slitting of master coils up to 85 inches wide and 105,000 pounds in gauges up to 0.750-inch. The Ferrous85” facility is currently under construction with a planned start-up in Q3 of 2021, according to the company’s website.

Other processors reportedly are in talks to co-locate with SDI. During its recent conference call, the steelmaker said 1.3 million out of the Sinton mill’s 3.0 million tons of annual production are already spoken for by adjacent customers.