Nucor Corp. announced that consolidated net sales for the third quarter were $1.6 billion, a 5 percent increase from the previous quarter.Earnings for the third quarter were $16 million, compared with $8.4 million the second quarter of the year.
Nucor's consolidated net sales for the first nine months of 2003 increased 31 percent to $4.605 million, compared with $3.507 million the first nine months of 2002. Average sales price per ton remained unchanged while total tons shipped to outside customers increased 31 percent from the first nine months of last year.
During the most recently concluded quarter Nucor's consolidated net sales increased 31 percent to $1.604 million, compared with $1.229 million in last year's third quarter.
Average sales price per ton decreased 5 percent from the third quarter of 2002 and increased less than 1 percent from the second quarter of 2003. Total tons shipped to outside customers increased 37 percent from the third quarter of 2002 and increased 5 percent from the second quarter of 2003. The increase in total tons shipped was driven by the acquisitions of the assets of Trico Steel Company, LLC in July 2002 and the assets of Birmingham Steel Corp. this past December.
Excluding the increases resulting from these acquisitions, total tons shipped to outside customers increased 6 percent from the first nine months of 2002 to the first nine months of 2003 and increased 10 percent from the third quarter of 2002 to the third quarter of 2003.
Nucor's consolidated net earnings for the current year's first nine months were $42 million, compared with $119.2 million in the first nine months of 2002. Nucor's consolidated net earnings for this year's third quarter were $16 million, compared with $39.2 million in the third quarter of 2002.
The company attributed the decline in earnings to higher scrap and energy costs, continued severely depressed levels of non-residential construction and capital goods markets, and increased pre-operating and start- up costs. The average scrap and scrap substitute cost per ton used increased $23 from the first nine months of 2002 to the first nine months of 2003, increased $19 from the third quarter of 2002 to the third quarter of 2003 and increased $6 from the second quarter of 2003 to the third quarter of 2003.
The company also reported that it established new quarter and nine-month tonnage records for steel production, total steel shipments and steel shipments to outside customers in 2003. In the first nine months of 2003, steel production was 13.015 million tons, compared with 10.034 million tons produced in the first nine months of 2002, an increase of 30 percent.
Total steel shipments increased 32 percent to 13.189 million tons in the first nine months of 2003, compared with 9.986 million tons in the first nine months of last year. Steel shipments to outside customers increased 33 percent to 12.155 million tons in the first nine months of 2003, compared with 9.118 million tons in 2002's first nine months.
In the steel products segment, steel joist production during the first nine months of 2003 increased to 378,000 tons, compared with 343,000 tons in the first nine months of 2002. Steel deck sales increased to 266,000 tons in the first nine months of 2003, compared with 235,000 tons in 2002's first nine months. Cold finished steel sales increased to 182,000 tons, compared with 169,000 tons in the first nine months of 2002.