Nucor External Analysis

Examples of this industries' most relevant external environmental issues include Nucor's mill in Indiana was sited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for alleged violations of federal and state clean-air rules. In addition, the concerns about North Carolina's decision to allow Nucor to start building before the environmental review was completed. The plant was located on the banks of one of the most important and sensitive stretched of the Chowan, a principle tributary to the national treasure Albemarle Sound and the last bastion of the state's once vibrant river-herring fishery. North Carolina passed a law in 1997 that required the restoration of this fishery through a combination of measures designed to prevent over fishing, restore spawning and nursery habitats, and to improve water quality in the Chowan. There were also the concerns regarding the excessive incentives the state gave to convince Nucor to build a $300 million steel mill in North Carolina. Some questioned whether the promise of 300 well-paying jobs in Hertford Country was worth the $155 million in tax breaks the state was giving Nucor to locate here Nucor continues to electrify the steel industry with a simple concept: The minimill is mighty. At its various minimills, Nucor produces about 22 million tons of steel annually, including hot-and cold-rolled steel, steel joists, and metal buildings. A major recycler of scrap metal, Nucor produces steel by melting scrap in electric arc furnaces. Most of its products are sold to steel service centers, manufacturers, and fabricators. Divisions such as Vulcraft, one of the US's largest producers of steel joists, girders, and decking, use the balance of the steel. Threats to Nucor would include cheap imports, U.S. steel producers facing higher energy prices, weakening demand by customer industries, increasingly tough environmental rules, and changing cost structures among producers, and global competition. Opportunities