Steel Dynamics, Inc. announced a fourth quarter 2015 net loss of $253 million on sales revenues of $1.6 billion. This compares to Q4 2014 net income of $61 million on sales of $2.0 billion.
“The fourth quarter 2015 market environment was one of the most challenging in recent history for our steel and metals recycling operations,” said Mark D. Millett, Chief Executive Officer. “The domestic steel industry operated at production rates below 65 percent in November and December, representing the lowest levels this year caused by ongoing pressure from unfairly traded steel imports, customer destocking and seasonally lower demand. An important barometer for domestic steel consumption is the strength of the construction industry. Historically, the construction industry has been the largest single domestic steel consuming sector, and it is continuing on an upward trend.”
For the full-year 2015,
Steel Dynamics reported a net loss of $130 million on sales of $7.6 billion, compared to net earnings of $157 million in 2014 on sales of $8.8 billion.
“While underlying steel demand in certain market sectors remains steady and import levels have somewhat declined, the issue of unfairly traded steel imports persists,” said Millett. “We believe that customer steel inventories have started to realign with current demand dynamics, and when combined with scrap price stabilization and moderating steel import volumes, presents an environment that could result in increased 2016 domestic steel production.”