At the start of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor's Q1 conference call Thursday, executives noted that Nucor's long product sector experienced pressure from the import market during Q1, particularly for rebar from Turkey, although there was an increase in merchant bar from Turkey as well. Through February, total imports in the US increased 36 percent over year, Dan DiMicco, CEO of Nucor, noted.
DiMicco commented that "clearly this flood of imports is not being driven by demand," but rather an excess supply push on the part of the global steel industry and trade environments, and the recent deluge is leading to distortions in price and cost. However, DiMicco said, "rest-assured we will be moving forward with legal challenges," and will "deal with them in the only way we have to deal with them when they are not market driven." He said the import situation will certainly be dealt with, because there is "no way the domestic industry is competing on a level playing field."