Steel Products
Nucor Pre-Announces 1st Quarter to be Disappointing
Written by Sandy Williams
March 15, 2013
Written by: Sandy Williams
Nucor is expecting shares to drop by half in the first quarter of 2013, falling to $0.20 to $0.25 per diluted share from $0.43 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $0.45 per diluted share in first quarter 2012.
Weak performance in sheet steel offset by improved profitability of structural steel has left the steel mills segment flat in the fourth quarter. Nucor says steel mills have not seen the usual seasonal improvement in the first quarter. Weak performance is expected by downstream products leading to modest losses for the quarter. Raw materials have also been impacted by an 18 day outage at the Trinidad DRI plant and weather related slowdown at Nucor’s scrap processing business.
Nucor expects non-residential construction to pick up in 2013 and continues to see energy and automotive as their strongest end markets. Imports and the political and economic uncertainly continue to negatively affect results.

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Products

Tariffs, ample domestic supply cause importers to shift or cancel HR import orders
Subdued demand is causing importers to cancel hot-rolled (HR) coil orders and renegotiate the terms of shipments currently enroute to the US, importers say. An executive for a large overseas mill said customers might find it difficult to justify making imports buys after US President Donald Trump doubled the 25% Section 232 tariff on imported steel […]

Drilling activity slows in the US, grows in Canada
Oil and gas drilling activity was mixed this week, according to Baker Hughes. US totals slipped for a sixth straight week, while Canada saw a slight bump in activity.

Commerce finds no Korean OCTG shipments below market value
US Department of Commerce (Commerce) review found no South Korean oil country tubular goods (OCTG) exporters or producers sold products below market value

Drilling activity slows further in US and Canada
Oil and gas drilling activity declined again this week in both the US and Canada, according to Baker Hughes.

SMU Community Chat: Zekelman calls for more support for steel consumers
“Unless the administration actually gets serious about levelling the playing field… for consumers of steel, then everything they've done on the steel side is useless."