New Nucor plate mill to run full by 4Q

US steelmaker Nucor expects a new plate mill it is starting up in Kentucky to be running at full capacity by the end of 2023.

The plate mill in Brandenburg, Kentucky, is expected to produce up to half its 1.2mn short tons (st)/yr capacity in 2023 as it continues to start up its operations.

"We're expecting somewhere in the 10,000-20,000st range of shipments in the first quarter, so that will be primarily a ramp-up quarter," executive vice president of plate and structural products Al Behr said in an earnings call this afternoon. Shipments in the second quarter, he said, would probably run at about 100,000st, with shipments in the subsequent two quarters each at "somewhere" in the 200,000st range.

Behr estimated Brandenburg's 2023 production will be between 500,000-600,000st, with the mill likely to reach its full run rate by the end of the year.

Brandenburg's start-up has worried many plate service centers, who expect its additional production on the market to lead to lower prices as Nucor sells its tons at lower levels to fill its books.

Despite the ramp-up of Brandenburg and plate prices running at above historical levels, chief executive Leon Topalian argued that prices were not too high.

The Argus US plate ex-works assessment was at $1,464/short ton (st) on 24 January, lower than the $1,480/st price target Nucor has maintained for two months. Nucor's ex-work plate price offers rose to a top line of $1,910/st in April and May 2022, and have since declined through multiple price decreases.

Last week one of Nucor's plate competitors, SSAB Americas, increased its delivered plate price offers by $60/st.

By Rye Druzin