Nucor's board of directors has approved plans to construct a 3 million st/year sheet mill to serve the US Midwest and Northeast markets, the steelmaker said Sept. 20.

          The company is evaluating locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, it said. The facility, expected to cost about $2.7 billion, is to include an 84-inch sheet mill with a 76-inch cold mill and two galvanizing lines, according to the company.

          Galvanizing capabilities will include an advanced high-end automotive line with full inspection capabilities as well as a construction-grade line, Nucor said. Once state and local incentives, permitting and other regulatory approvals are received, construction is expected to take two years.

          “For Nucor, this is a growth initiative,” CEO Leon Topalian said in a conference call Sept. 20. “We are not replacing antiquated, inefficient assets, we are adding additional steelmaking to capture more share of the domestic market for higher-end sheet steel.”

           Nucor plans to build the new capacity in the heart of the two largest steel sheet consuming markets in the US where demand is the greatest, he said.

           “These important markets need new, modern and sustainable steel production capacity in order to meet future demand, both from an environmental and capability perspective,” he said.

           Topalian noted the growth in electric-arc furnace, or EAF-based, steelmaking in the US over the past three decades and said this trend is expected to continue to accelerate amid the global push to limit carbon emissions.

           “With this investment we expect to continue to take share and accelerate the market transition to more environmentally friendly, EAF-produced steel,” he said.

            Nucor, which currently ships roughly 1.5 million st/year of steel to the automotive industry, has set a goal of increasing this contribution to 3 million st/year.

--Steel Business Briefing