Final Thoughts

Nucor, SDI and Cliffs all announced earnings last week. All of the CEOs are quite bullish as all of their flat rolled mills are running at full capacity. And with pricing now in excess of $1,400 per ton for benchmark hot rolled, the mills are reporting record or near record quarterly profits for first-quarter 2021. (The second quarter will be even more profitable due to the price variance between Q1 and this quarter.)

Leon Topalian, the president and CEO of Nucor, was quite upbeat about virtually all market segments. The energy industry has been the laggard and even energy is showing signs of life. The automotive issues with semiconductors have not affected Nucor, and they expect a strong build of autos during the second half of 2021. Their downstream manufacturing plants associated with the construction industry have strong backlogs. He also spoke about how the Biden administration’s focus on clean energy would be a positive for the steel industry, and Nucor specifically, as they are strong in the solar markets. And Nucor’s new plate mill will be well positioned to take advantage of what they feel will be an 8 million ton steel wind farm market.