Steel Markets

CMC looks beyond Arizona micro-mill woes to long-term viability of construction mart
Written by Ethan Bernard
March 21, 2025
CMC’s Arizona 2 micro-mill did not break even in the company’s fiscal second quarter, which ended Feb. 28. Still, the company sees long-term viability in the construction market beyond temporary headwinds.
The Irving, Texas-based company began ramping up the micro-mill expansion project in Mesa, Ariz., last year. It’s the first micro-mill in the world capable of rolling merchant bar quality products, according to the company.
“We had a challenging second quarter. Not only is it our weakest quarter seasonally … but we had two transformer outages, and we continue to have a few startup issues nagging us,” President and CEO Peter Matt said in an earnings call on Thursday.
“So we did not break even in the second quarter,” he noted.
As the company moves into its fiscal Q3’25, he said, “We are going to work really hard to get to that (break-even) level, but I think it’s probably more realistic that we cross that threshold in Q4.”
And moving into 2026, he expects the mill “to be continuously profitable.”
CMC continued to make progress at the Arizona micro-mill, including “producing an increased volume of merchant bar products during the quarter.”
“Looking ahead, we expect to achieve meaningful advancements in production volumes during the third and fourth (fiscal) quarters, with growth in both rebar and merchant bar output,” Matt said.
Construction viability
Despite the economic and geopolitical upheaval of the last five years, Matt pointed out that the construction market has been an essential element of the way forward.
“Governments and businesses have responded by undertaking massive investment programs to realign supply chains, rebuild infrastructure, increase energy production and transmission, and upgrade computing capabilities,” he said.
He noted that the common thread running through all of those is “construction.”
“We likely won’t be able to predict the next trend, but I’m confident that it will require construction solutions offered by our company,” Matt said. “That’s why I think it’s important to keep a sense of perspective and look beyond the temporary slowness.”
Trade policy boost?
Looking to trade policy, specifically trends like reshoring, Matt was upbeat on the potential boost for rebar demand.
“There’s been some really significant investment announcements in the US that are going to be leading to some substantial rebar demand,” he commented.
He gave the example of Apple talking about investing $500 billion to expand teams and facilities in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington state.
Matt also mentioned significant investments in the US announced by Taiwanese chip maker TSMC, Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, and Japanese automaker Honda mulling potential US reshoring investment.
“So these, I think, are, in part, consequences – maybe not directly — but certainly consequences of trade policy,” Matt said. “And I think they’re going to lead to a strong backdrop of demand for us over the next couple of years on that side of the equation.”

Ethan Bernard
Read more from Ethan BernardLatest in Steel Markets

AISI: Raw steel production bounces back
Domestic mill production rebounded last week, according to the latest production figures released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Production had been historically strong over the summer months before softening in early October.

US sets Section 232 tariffs on trucks and buses
Medium- and heavy-duty trucks (MHDV) and buses imported to the US will start being charged Section 232 tariffs beginning Nov. 1.

Hot-rolled sources say demand continues to dwindle, prices feel arbitrary
Genuine demand, they stated, will return when the market feels stable again.

FabArc Steel Supply completes projects in Mississippi, Georgia
FabArc Steel Supply announced this week the completion of two large-scale projects in Georgia and Mississippi.

Thin demand keeps plate prices hovering at lowest levels since February
Participants in the domestic plate market say spot prices appear to have hit the floor, and they continue to linger there. They say demand for steel remains thin, with plate products no exception.