Market Segment
November 20, 2025
Final Thoughts
Written by Michael Cowden
We’ve been writing a lot about steel prices lately and what might happen with President Trump’s trade and tariff policy. I’d like to take a little break from that today. Instead, I’ll focus on something I always find exciting and inspiring – namely, new mills.
I was in Arkansas last week for the grand opening of Hybar, the new rebar mill CEO David Stickler and his team have built in the town of Osceola. These days, that part of the world has become a steelmaking hub. And it arguably rivals more established industrial areas like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Chicago.
I also had an opportunity to tour the mill, which is a real treat to see. The automation is impressive. As is the solar field that will power it. Also, I’m used to EAFs being black. It’s a little shocking to see one that’s still silver because it hasn’t been covered with grit (yet).
Another fun thing: Hybar brought Lincoln, the eagle who does flyovers at Philadelphia Eagles home games, to do a flyover of the assembled crowd. Turns out, Lincoln, who had trouble in the wild, is just fine among humans.
As our readers know, SMU has been reporting on developments at Hybar for a while now – since Sticker announced plans to build a greenfield mill in 2022. As SMU’s Laura Miller reported, Hybar started melting scrap on a consistent basis in September. And in October, the company began shipping steel made from that scrap to customers. (Sticker also noted during the grand opening ceremony that, prior to that, Hybar had rolled rebar from billet supplied by Steel Dynamics Inc.)
Speaking of timelines, the first time I traveled to Osceola was about a decade ago, when Big River Steel was being built. The drive out there from Memphis hasn’t changed. You take the I-55 bridge, now named King’s Crossing, across the mighty Mississippi River into Arkansas. And, before long, you’re surrounded by fields – soybeans and, in the fall, cotton bales. (For a Chicago guy, that isn’t something you see very often.)
Osceola might be a small town. But Stickler has big plans for it. He pointed out the region itself has lived up to the promise that Big River Steel founder and former CEO John Correnti saw. Namely, that northeast Arkansas would be “steel mill heaven.” Correnti died in 2015, before he could see that dream become a reality.
But that reality is evident everywhere you look. In the distance, past Hybar, you can see both Big River Steel – which Stickler was instrumental in building – and BR2. If you could see beyond the horizon, you’d spot Nucor Steel Hickman and Nucor-Yamato Steel.
Stickler, during the opening, thanked the many people and companies who have made Hybar possible. Some are names you’d recognize – big equipment suppliers like Germany’s SMS Group, London-based Primetals Technologies, and Finland’s Konecranes. Also garnering thanks were some of the folks who invested in the project. That list includes TPG, as well as Koch Metals and Trading, both of which were also backers of Big River Steel. And just as important were a host of smaller companies and, of course, Hybar’s customers.
Stickler recalled that in August 2023, Hybar had three employees, a billion dollars in the bank, and 1,300 acres of farmland. “We are almost like the dog that caught the car,” he joked. These days, the company has about 170 employees and ambitions to produce over 700,000 tons of rebar per year, as well as build new mills.
Stickler pointed out that Osceola was celebrating its 150th anniversary. “It’s a town like a lot of towns in the Mississippi Delta. It fell on hard times when all of the light industry jobs were going overseas,” he said. Now? “They’re on their way back.”
Whatever your politics, I think stories like this are ones we can all celebrate. Of course, it’s probably best to avoid wading into politics over Thanksgiving dinner. But maybe give thanks that we have a dynamic steel industry in the US – one where money is still available to build new mills, one with the people with the know-how to make it happen, and one with folks eager to take tough but good-paying jobs.
It’s pretty cool what humans can do when we work together.
Tampa Steel Conference and Steel 101
If you dare, tell a friend or relative how cool steel is over turkey or a pumpkin pie. If they roll their eyes, well, you can always geek out with SMU at the Tampa Steel Conference. It’s Feb. 11-13. You can learn more and register here.
And if that friend or relative is new to steel but agrees that it’s cool, consider sending them to our next Steel 101, on Jan. 13-14 in Ontario, Calif., where we’ll also tour Nucor CSI. You can learn more and register here.
In the meantime, we here at SMU are thankful for your continued support. We really do appreciate it.
