Nucor eyes Pacific Northwest for new mill

Charlotte, North Carolina-based steelmaking and scrap recycling firm Nucor Corp. is exploring potential sites in the Pacific Northwest to build a new rebar micromill with an annual capacity of 650,000 tons.

The investment of the scrap-fed electric arc furnace (EAF) mill is subject to approval by its board of directors and would become Nucor's fourth rebar micromill, joining its existing micromills in Missouri and Florida and the mill currently under construction in North Carolina.

"We have had great success with our rebar micro mills in Florida and Missouri and are on schedule to begin operating our third micro mill in the first quarter of 2025, which we are currently building in North Carolina,” Nucor President and CEO Leon Topalian says.

“Locating a new rebar micromill in the Pacific Northwest provides us with an excellent opportunity to better serve our customers in the region and continue to build our modern economy with some of the most sustainable steel in the world."

The planned mill is being designed to produce a range of rebar sizes and to have spooling capabilities, the firm says. Rebar is used primarily in the construction of roads, buildings, sidewalks and other structures. With an increase in federal infrastructure spending, the rebar market is expected to show continued strength.

Nucor bar steel products contain 97 percent recycled content on average, according to the company.

The company currently has 15 bar mills in the U.S., serving end markets that include the agricultural, automotive, construction, energy, furniture, machinery, metal building, railroad, recreational equipment, shipbuilding, heavy truck and trailer sectors. Nucor’s bar steel production capacity is estimated at approximately 9.56 million tons per year.

In addition to its network of mills, Nucor, through the David J. Joseph Co. and its affiliates, brokers and processes ferrous and nonferrous metals. Through its fabrication operations, Nucor makes hollow structural section tubing, electrical conduit, steel racking, steel piling; steel joists and joist girders, precision castings, steel fasteners, metal building systems, insulated metal panels, overhead doors and utility structures.