US steelmaker Nucor is expecting to roll its first plate at its new Brandenburg, Kentucky, mill by the end of the year.
Chief executive Leon Topalian said in a quarterly earnings call today that the 1.2mn short tons (st)/yr electric arc furnace and the mill's ladle metallurgical furnace have been commissioned. The company is working to commission the vacuum degasser and caster, readying the mill to cast its first plate by year-end.
The prospect of output from the new mill comes as Nucor's plate shipments fell by 31pc to 1.25mn st in the first three quarters of 2022 from a year earlier.
The Argus US plate ex-works assessment is down by 16pc at $1,620/sts since 20 September after hitting a peak in April, largely falling on the back of Nucor price cuts. Many plate market participants expect pricing to remain under pressure as it is more than double hot-rolled coil (HRC) pricing, to which it has historically tracked much closer. The negative sentiment and expectation of increased supply from Brandenburg adding to pressure on pricing has reduced buying.
Nucor's steel mill utilization fell to 77pc, down significantly from a 96pc the year before and down by 8 percentage points from the second quarter.
Sheet mill shipments fell by 4pc to 2.68mn short tons (st) year over year, while bar shipments fell by 7.7pc to 2.17mn st. Structural volumes were down by 21pc to 583,000st, while plate shipments dropped by 37pc to 379,000st.
Total sales to outside customers fell by 11pc to 6.42mn st in the quarter, with the majority of that drop from an 11pc decline in steel mill volumes to 4.55mn st.
Nucor earned a profit of $1.69bn in the third quarter, down by 20pc from a year earlier.
