Nucor’s Steel Louisiana DRI plant resumed operations this week, multiple sources and a company spokesperson confirmed to Davis Index.
The Louisiana-based DRI plant has an annual capacity of 2.2 mn nt (2mn mt) and feeds both Nucor’s own steel mills and external customers.
Earlier this month, Davis Index reported the temporary suspension of Nucor’s Louisiana operations, which followed a moratorium on activities at its Trinidad DRI plant a week earlier, because of the COVID-19 crisis.
April outages at the DRI plants aren’t expected to impact the company’s steelmaking operations or result in additional layoffs. DRI inventories have been sufficient for short-term consumption.
With scrap inventories tight and order books anticipated to improve following automotive restarts, substitutes will likely be placed into the steel-producing supply chain pipeline. Scrap yards’ inventories have declined because feedstock diminished on lower prices and industrial activity, as well as fewer peddler collections, and because yards either reduced hours or shutdown because of the pandemic.