Nucor Corporation announced today consolidated net earnings of $354.2 million for the first quarter of 2018. By comparison, Nucor reported consolidated net earnings of $383.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2017 and $356.9 million for the first quarter of 2017.
Nucor's consolidated net sales increased 9 percent to $5.57 billion in the first quarter of 2018 compared with $5.09 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 and increased 16 percent compared with $4.82 billion in the first quarter of 2017.
Average sales price per ton in the first quarter of 2018 increased 3 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 and increased 9 percent compared with the first quarter of 2017.
Total tons shipped to outside customers were 6,967,000 tons in the first quarter of 2018, a 6 percent increase from both the fourth quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2017. Total steel mill shipments in the first quarter of 2018 increased 8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 and increased 7 percent from the first quarter of 2017. Downstream steel products shipments to outside customers in the first quarter of 2018 increased 1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 and increased 15 percent from the first quarter of 2017.
Overall operating rates at our steel mills increased to 92 percent in the first quarter of 2018 as compared to 82 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 88 percent in the first quarter of 2017.
In a statement, the company said earnings in the second quarter of 2018 are expected to increase significantly compared to the first quarter of 2018.
“It is worth noting that steel mill metal margins and profits in March were by far the strongest in the first quarter of 2018,” the company said. “The performance of the steel mills segment is expected to improve in the second quarter of 2018 as compared to the first quarter of 2018 as we continue to experience the benefit of announced price increases. We believe there is sustainable strength in steel end use markets, and we are encouraged by recent actions by the government to address the massive flood of dumped and illegally subsidized imports into the United States. We believe broad-based tariffs with few exceptions are needed to address the historic volume of unfairly traded imports and transshipping that is done to avoid trade duties. We expect improved performance for our steel products segment in the second quarter of 2018 as compared to the first quarter of 2018 as rising steel input costs are being passed on to customers.”