Nucor Corporation announced consolidated net earnings attributable to Nucor stockholders of $844.8 million, or $3.46 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2024. By comparison, Nucor reported consolidated net earnings attributable to Nucor stockholders of $785.4 million, or $3.16 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2023 and $1.14 billion, or $4.45 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2023.
“Nucor’s performance continues to be strong even as steel market conditions have come off their post-pandemic record highs,” said Leon Topalian, Nucor’s Chair, president, and chief executive officer. “We also took several bold steps to advance our growth, sustainability, and commercial strategies during the first quarter. We broadened our capabilities in the rapidly growing data center market, announced new partnerships to supply our customers with low carbon steel and accelerate the development of cleaner forms of energy, and introduced the Nucor Consumer Spot Price for our hot-rolled coil products to provide our customers with more timely and transparent information.”
Nucor’s consolidated net sales were $8.14 billion in the first quarter of 2024, a 6 percent increase compared to $7.70 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023 and a 7 percent decrease compared to $8.71 billion in the first quarter of 2023. Average sales price per ton in the first quarter of 2024 increased 1 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 and decreased 3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023. A total of 6,224,000 tons were shipped to outside customers in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 5 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 and a decrease of 3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023. Total steel mill shipments in the first quarter of 2024 increased 7 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 and decreased 2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023. Steel mill shipments to internal customers represented 21 percent of total steel mill shipments in the first quarter of 2024, compared to 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2023. Downstream steel product shipments to outside customers in the first quarter of 2024 decreased 5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2023 and decreased 15 percent from the first quarter of 2023.
The average scrap and scrap substitute cost per gross ton used in the first quarter of 2024 was $421, a 6 percent increase compared to $397 in the fourth quarter of 2023 and a 2 percent increase compared to $414 in the first quarter of 2023.
Pre-operating and start-up costs related to the Company’s growth projects were approximately $125 million, or $0.39 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2024, compared with approximately $127 million, or $0.39 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2023 and approximately $82 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2023.
Overall operating rates at the Company’s steel mills increased to 82 percent in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 74 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 and 79 percent in the first quarter of 2023.