Nucor Corp. first said its new galvanizing line at Nucor Steel Berkeley would start up in mid-2025. As of its latest update, the $425 million line in Huger is expected to begin production this fall.

In its second-quarter investor presentation on July 27, Nucor said equipment commissioning at the Berkeley County line was under way and that production startup was expected to begin in the fall. The line is meant to give the mill “advanced capabilities to serve Southeast automotive customers,” the presentation said.

The Charlotte-based steelmaker reports third-quarter results after the market closes Oct. 26 and will hold a conference call at 10 a.m. Oct. 27, according to a Sept. 17 company announcement. That announcement, which gave earnings guidance for the quarter, did not mention the Berkeley line.

What the line does

A galvanizing line puts a zinc coating on finished sheet steel to protect it from corrosion, the Post and Courier reported when the project broke ground in May 2024.

Nucor’s board approved the Berkeley line in September 2022. The company said then that it would cost $425 million, create more than 50 full-time jobs and produce about 500,000 tons a year of galvanized steel up to 72 inches wide for the automotive and consumer durables markets. Start-up was expected in mid-2025.

“The new Berkeley line will complement our recent galvanizing expansions at our Hickman and Gallatin operations and will be our eighth wholly-owned galvanizing line,” Leon Topalian, Nucor’s chair and CEO, said in the 2022 announcement. Topalian began his Nucor career at Nucor Steel Berkeley in 1996 as a project engineer, according to the company’s annual report.

The new line joins an existing galvanizing line at the mill that has been upgraded to make sheet for the construction, automotive and appliance industries, the Post and Courier reported.

A shifting schedule

At the May 2, 2024, groundbreaking, the mill’s general manager, Mike Lee, said the line would “move us into higher-value products for important markets like automotive and durable goods and help us improve our market share,” according to the Post and Courier. The newspaper reported then that the line was expected to be finished in mid-2025.

By January 2026, Nucor’s investor materials listed an estimated completion of mid-2026 and about $110 million in spending on the line during 2026. In April, the company said equipment commissioning was planned for midyear and production would begin in the fall. The July presentation kept the fall target.

Nucor’s quarterly report for the period ended July 4 lists the South Carolina galvanizing line among the projects with the largest capital spending this year, alongside a sheet mill under construction in West Virginia and two new Nucor Towers & Structures plants. The company expects about $2.5 billion in total capital spending in 2026.

Incentives

South Carolina offered Nucor job development credits and helped with site preparation through a grant to Berkeley County from the S.C. Coordinating Council for Economic Development, Nucor said in 2022. Santee Cooper also gave the county a grant for facility upgrades related to the project, and Nucor and Berkeley County signed a fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreement, the company said. The Post and Courier reported the state grant at $400,000.

The mill

Nucor announced the Berkeley County mill in 1995, and it opened the following year, the Post and Courier reported. The plant melts and recycles scrap steel and has annual capacity for 3.5 million tons of flat-rolled steel used in car parts, water heaters, appliances and other products, according to the newspaper. It also makes structural steel beams.

The mill employed 975 people in 2022, according to Nucor. The galvanizing line will add about 50 jobs to a local workforce of nearly 1,000, the Post and Courier reported in 2024.

The company’s quarter

Nucor reported second-quarter net earnings of $1.16 billion, or $5.04 per diluted share, on net sales of $10.40 billion.

“Investment across key sectors of the U.S. economy, combined with supportive federal trade policies, drove a second consecutive quarterly record for Nucor steel mill shipments,” Topalian said in the July 27 earnings release.

For the third quarter, which ended Oct. 3, Nucor guided to earnings of $5.55 to $5.65 per diluted share. It expects steel mills segment earnings to rise on higher average selling prices and stable volumes, the company said in its Sept. 17 guidance.

When the line does start, Nucor has said it will add about 500,000 tons a year of galvanized capacity on the Cooper River.