New Nucor Steel Brandenburg Plate Mill Rolls First Plate

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced today that the company's new state-of-the-art steel plate mill in Brandenburg, Kentucky, rolled its first steel plate on Friday, December 30, 2022. Nucor Steel Brandenburg will focus on final commissioning of the mill in the first quarter of 2023 and will ship the first tons to customers during the quarter.

"Congratulations to our more than 400 teammates for achieving this important milestone and executing one of the safest mill start-ups in Nucor history, while also delivering the project on time and on budget," said Leon Topalian, Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Nucor Corporation. "We are looking forward to supplying not only the highest quality steel but also the most sustainable plate products in the world for our nation's military, infrastructure, heavy equipment, offshore wind, and other markets."

Nucor Steel Brandenburg will be among only a few mills globally - and the only mill in the United States - capable of manufacturing at scale the heavy gauge plate used in monopile foundations for offshore wind towers. As a result, it will be a critical part of the supply chain for the continued development of our nation's offshore wind power infrastructure. The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $300 billion for clean energy development and climate programs, supports the Biden Administration's announced goal to build 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030. This could result in approximately 7.5 million tons of additional steel demand.

The Nucor Steel Brandenburg plate mill is a $1.7 billion capital investment in specialized capabilities with the ability to produce 1.2 million tons annually. The new mill is located in the middle of the largest steel plate-consuming region in the country and will be able to produce 97% of plate products consumed domestically. It is also the first steel mill in the world to pursue certification under LEED v4 ("Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design"), which is more stringent than previous LEED rating systems and provides a globally recognized framework for sustainability achievement.

"We would like to thank the Governor's Office, officials with the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, and local officials in Brandenburg and Meade County for their incredible support of this project from start to finish," said Johnny Jacobs, Vice President and General Manager of Nucor Steel Brandenburg. "We are proud to bring high-quality manufacturing jobs to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and look forward to being part of the Brandenburg community for many decades." 

Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Products produced include: carbon and alloy steel -- in bars, beams, sheet and plate; hollow structural section tubing; electrical conduit; steel racking; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; precision castings; steel fasteners; metal building systems; insulated metal panels; overhead doors; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Company, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and hot briquetted iron / direct reduced iron; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America's largest recycler.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties which we expect will or may occur in the future and may impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. The words "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "intend," "project," "may," "will," "should," "could" and similar expressions are intended to identify those forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's best judgment based on current information, and, although we base these statements on circumstances that we believe to be reasonable when made, there can be no assurance that future events will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking information. As such, the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may vary materially from the projected results and expectations discussed in this news release. Factors that might cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (1) competitive pressure on sales and pricing, including pressure from imports and substitute materials; (2) U.S. and foreign trade policies affecting steel imports or exports; (3) the sensitivity of the results of our operations to prevailing market steel prices and changes in the supply and cost of raw materials, including pig iron, iron ore and scrap steel; (4) the availability and cost of electricity and natural gas, which could negatively affect our cost of steel production or result in a delay or cancellation of existing or future drilling within our natural gas drilling programs; (5) critical equipment failures and business interruptions; (6) market demand for steel products, which, in the case of many of our products, is driven by the level of nonresidential construction activity in the United States; (7) impairment in the recorded value of inventory, equity investments, fixed assets, goodwill or other long-lived assets; (8) uncertainties surrounding the global economy, including excess world capacity for steel production, inflation and interest rate changes; (9) fluctuations in currency conversion rates; (10) significant changes in laws or government regulations affecting environmental compliance, including legislation and regulations that result in greater regulation of greenhouse gas emissions that could increase our energy costs, capital expenditures and operating costs or cause one or more of our permits to be revoked or make it more difficult to obtain permit modifications; (11) the cyclical nature of the steel industry; (12) capital investments and their impact on our performance; (13) our safety performance; and (14) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and any variants of the virus. These and other factors are discussed in Nucor's regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of Nucor's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of this date, and Nucor does not assume any obligation to update them, except as may be required by applicable law.

SOURCE Nucor Corporation