Category: Steel Mills

Nucor posts lower Q4'24 profit, hints at better times - and more import restrictions - in '25

Nucor Corp. posted sharply lower fourth quarter earnings on Monday driven in part by lower average selling prices at its steel mills. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker also warned that first-quarter results might not be much better in commentary released with earnings data. But Nucor said that it expected better times later in 2025. It also hinted at the possibility of ramped up trade restrictions – including more stringent Section 232 tariffs.

SDI bullish on Sinton as capacity utilization passes 80% threshold

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) remains upbeat about progress at its Sinton, Texas, sheet mill and expects it to be profitable in the upcoming months. “The Sinton team gained considerable momentum in the last two months—running above 80% capacity—and they are doing even better in January, with expectations to reach profitability in the coming months,” SDI Chairman and CEO Mark Millett said in a Q4’24 earnings call on Thursday.

Leibowitz: Biden block of Nippon-USS deal has broad, mostly bad consequences

As one of my university professors once said (and it’s stuck with me for half a century), “Change is the only permanency.” On Friday, President Biden acted to block the acquisition of United States Steel by Nippon Steel Corp. of Japan, without acknowledging the changes that have already occurred in the steel industry, and which are likely to increase. After more than a year of raging debate, it seems that nobody was convinced by arguments. Nippon’s worker-centered concessions, including safeguarding the jobs of U.S. Steel’s unionized workers and committing to more than $2 billion in investments for the aging plants at Gary, Ind., and the Mon Valley complex in Pennsylvania, were not mentioned in the president’s announcement on Friday.