Steel Mills
Nucor Expects Weak Q4
Written by Sandy Williams
December 16, 2015
Nucor is expecting weaker financial results in fourth quarter. Operating performance in the steel mill segment was down from third quarter, especially at sheet and bar mills, as lower selling prices outpaced the decline in raw materials pricing.
“This performance is due to continued deterioration in global steel markets amplified by global excess capacity and historically high import levels,” wrote Nucor in its Q4 guidance. “Although the trade remedy process has not moved as quickly as we would like, we believe that preliminary antidumping and countervailing duties and affirmative critical circumstances findings in the steel sheet cases should have a positive impact on domestic sheet mills in the first half of 2016.”
In their market assessment, Nucor noted seasonal slowdown in the nonresidential market and continuing weakness in energy, heavy equipment and agriculture. The automotive market remains strong.
Downstream product performance is expected to be lower than third quarter due to typical fourth quarter seasonality, but is expected to increase from Q4 2014 due to improvement in the nonresidential construction market in 2015.
Raw materials segment results are expected to be down due to lower scrap and metal commodity prices at the company’s scrap processing business.
A planned maintenance will be completed at Nucor Steel Louisiana in Q4. The Louisiana DRI facility will not resume operations following the maintenance outage until market prices improve.
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills
Nucor names Batterbee, Bledsoe to HR roles
Nucor Corp. has promoted Thomas J. Batterbee to the position EVP of human resources and talent and appointed Elizabeth Bledsoe to the newly created position of president of human resources and talent.
Millett sees tariffs, CORE case benefiting SDI
Steel Dynamics' top exec thinks Trump’s tariff policies, as well as the results from the recent CORE case, will prove advantageous to the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker and aluminum company.
USW digs in on opposition to USS-Nippon deal
“We remain deeply concerned about the national and economic security implications of the subject transaction,” the union stated in the letter dated April 21.
SDI’s Q1 earnings slump on-year, but up sequentially
SDI earnings slip in first quarter year over year, but are up sequentially.
POSCO inks MoU with Hyundai on Louisiana EAF mill
POSCO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyundai Motor Group that includes an equity investment in Hyundai’s previously announced EAF mill set to be built in Louisiana.