New US government investments and federal policies will boost demand for steel by as much as 8 million short tons over the next decade, Kallanish hears from the top executive at Nucor.

Leon Topalian, Nucor’s chairman, president and ceo, says trillions of new dollars for public infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, energy grid and other stimulus are significant enough to provide a major boost to domestic steel volumes.

Speaking at the Global Steel Dynamics Forum in New York on 27 June, Topalian added that development of data centres, warehouses, big-box retail and other private-sector construction will keep steelmakers busy too.

“I don’t think we’re spending enough time talking about the manufacturing renaissance and the reshoring that is happening in this country,” Topalian said. The government stimulus will result in an estimated “6-8 million tons of additional consumption over the next ten years that is just beginning”.

In that context, Topalian provided an update on the new Nucor Brandenburg plate mill, which will ramp up to a rate of 500,000 tons of annual production by the end of 2023. The $1.7 billion mill also will achieve operational profitability by the end of the year, he said.

The Kentucky plate mill is Nucor’s largest single capital investment in its history. However, it will be surpassed by the company’s new sheet mill in West Virginia. That project, now estimated at $3.1 billion, is due for startup in 2025. The West Virginia facility will leverage the buoyant demand nationally and will help Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor make inroads northward into the Ohio Valley and Northeast markets.

For Nucor historically, “it’s a lower overall market share up there,” Topalian said. Aside from the new regional volumes, the West Virginia mill will give the company “capability sets that we don’t have today”.

Topalian says his company is generally open to considering “opportunities and partnerships” that might enhance its supply of metallics but probably not in the direct mining of ore.

“Today, we control about 4 million tons of DRI that flows through our mills” from facilities in Louisiana and Trinidad, Topalian noted. “We have no plans to get into the iron ore game or mining.”

Topalian says Nucor would likely seek more acquisitions in downstream steel-usage segments. Any expansions will be focused in North America and not overseas at this time.