Businessweek

Nucor Corporation manufactures steel and steel products. The company also produces direct reduced iron (DRI) for use in the company’s steel mills. Through The David J. Joseph Company and its affiliates (DJJ), it also processes ferrous and nonferrous metals and brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, hot briquetted iron (HBI) and DRI. In 2012, the company recycled approximately 19.2 million tons of scrap steel. Segments The company operates in three segments: Steel Mills, Steel Products, and Raw Materials. Principal Products In the Steel Mills segment, the company produces and distributes sheet steel (hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized), plate steel, structural steel (wide-flange beams, beam blanks, H-piling and sheet piling) and bar steel (blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing bar, merchant bar and SBQ). The company manufactures steel principally from scrap steel and scrap steel substitutes using electric arc furnaces, continuous casting and automated rolling mills. The Steel Mills segment also includes the company’s equity method investments in Duferdofin Nucor S.r.l. and NuMit. In the Steel Products segment, the company produces steel joists and joist girders, steel deck, fabricated concrete reinforcing steel, cold finished steel, steel fasteners, metal building systems, steel grating and expanded metal, and wire and wire mesh. In the Raw Materials segment, the company produces DRI; brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, HBI and DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal. The Raw materials segment also includes its natural gas working interest drilling programs with Encana and certain equity method investments. Markets The Steel Mills segment sells its products primarily to steel service centers, fabricators and manufacturers located throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and worldwide. The company produces hot-rolled and cold-rolled sheet steel in standard grades and to customers’ specifications while maintaining inventories to fulfill anticipated orders. The company’s plate, structural, reinforcing and merchant bar steel come in standard sizes and grades, which allows the company to maintain inventory levels of these products to meet its customers’ expected orders. In addition, its bar mill group manufactures hot-rolled SBQ products to exacting specifications primarily servicing the automotive, energy, agricultural, heavy equipment and transportation sectors. The balance of the steel mill segment’s production went to its piling distributor and its downstream joist, deck, rebar fabrication, fastener, metal buildings and cold finish operations. In the Steel Products segment, the company sells steel joists and joist girders, and steel deck to general contractors and fabricators located throughout the United States and Canada. The company sells fabricated reinforcing products only on a construction contract bid basis. These products are used by contractors in constructing highways, bridges, reservoirs, utilities, hospitals, schools, airports, stadiums and high-rise buildings. The company manufactures cold finished steel, steel fasteners, steel grating, wire and wire mesh in standard sizes and maintain inventories of these products to fulfill anticipated orders. The company sells cold finished steel and steel fasteners primarily to distributors and manufacturers located throughout the United States and Canada. In the Raw Materials segment, the company process ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal for use in its steel mills and for sale to various domestic and international external customers. The company also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals and scrap substitutes, supplies ferro-alloys, and provides transportation, material handling and other services to users of scrap metals. The company’s primary external customers for ferrous scrap are electric arc furnace steel mills and foundries that use ferrous scrap as a raw material in their manufacturing process. External customers purchasing nonferrous scrap metal include aluminum can producers, secondary aluminum smelters, steel mills and other processors and consumers of various nonferrous metals. The company’s other operations include international trading companies that buy and sell steel and steel products that the company and other steel producers have manufactured. Environmental Laws and Regulations The company’s business operations are subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations intended to protect the environment. The principal federal environmental laws include the Clean Air Act (CAA) that regulates air emissions; the Clean Water Act (CWA) that regulates water discharges; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) that addresses solid and hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal; and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) that governs releases of, and remediation of sites contaminated by, hazardous substances. History Nucor Corporation was founded in 1940.