ADI sees more aluminum growth ahead

As Aluminum Dynamics Inc. (ADI) continues to ramp up production at its Mississippi mill, Steel Dynamics Inc.’s chief executive said there is more opportunity ahead.

“We will see how things go over the next six to eight months or so, but there is definitely growth opportunity there. … We could envision sort of exploiting or leveraging our pre-paint capabilities,” SDI Chairman and CEO Mark Millett said during an earnings call on Tuesday.

SDI is ADI’s parent company.

“It’s one of our highest margin product lines today. The team would be incredibly effective to coat the thousands, or millions, of pounds of aluminum that gets painted every year,” Millett said. “And we do believe there’s still clear room for a larger asset, the mill asset.”

SDI CFO Theresa Wagler said the company is also negotiating longer-term contracts in can sheet and in automotive.

The ADI project includes $2.5 billion for a 650,000-metric ton (mt) rolling mill and about $400 million for two 150,000-mt satellite recycled aluminum slab centers. SDI execs said ADI would finish 2026 at a 75% utilization rate.

Since shipping its first hot-rolled coils in June, ADI has produced finished aluminum flat-rolled products for the industrial and beverage can sectors as well as hot band for the automotive sector, Millett said.

Three of the four cast houses at the Columbus, Miss., plant, are fully commissioned and producing 3000, 5000 and 6000 series ingots for industrial, can sheet, and automotive sectors, he said.

The finished products have received customer qualifications. And ADI is progressing on commissioning the cold mill and other downstream lines, Millett added.

The hot mill has run 3003 and 5052 industrial, 3104 can sheet and 754 auto-grade material. The cold reversing mill is producing 3003, 5052 and 3104 alloys.

“Tandem mill #1 will be starting up in November and then tandem mill #2 and the CASH line are on schedule to be available in the first quarter of 2026,” Millet said.

“CASH” is short for a continuous annealing solution heat (CASH) treatment line.

External net sales of aluminum rose to $71.1 million in Q3’24, up from $66.9 million in Q3’24. Year to date, net sales climbed to $203.3 million, up from $198.4 million a year ago.

But aluminum operating losses widened due to start-up costs. ADI lost $56.5 million in Q3’25 compared to $22.0 million in Q3’24.

Wagler said the loss was “somewhat higher in the third quarter than previously expected as the teams continued construction and commissioning of various areas while also accelerating testing for beverage can and automotive products.”

SDI estimates that ADI will see an operating loss of approximately $40 million for Q4’25, Wagler said.

But company executives stressed a domestic supply deficit of more than 1.4 million tons for aluminum sheet, which had been forecast to grow even before 50% tariffs were put in place.

“We’re only adding 650,000. And then I think there’s another project that may add another incremental amount, but that deficit is growing,” Wagler said. “When you place that 50% tariff into the equation, it just really does – we would never invest based on that – but the point is that there’s a real need, structurally independent of trade action.”