Nucor Corp (NUE) 2015 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Nucor Corporation first quarter of 2015 earnings call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加紐柯公司 2015 年第一季財報電話會議。提醒一下，今天的通話正在錄音。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Certain statements made during this conference call will be forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The words we expect, believe, anticipate, and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify those forward-looking statements, which are based on management's current expectations, and information that is currently available. Although Nucor believes they are based on reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that future events will not affect their accuracy.

本次電話會議期間所做的某些陳述將是涉及風險和不確定性的前瞻性陳述。我們期望、相信、預期的詞語以及這些詞語和類似表達的變體旨在識別這些前瞻性陳述，這些陳述基於管理層當前的預期和當前可獲得的資訊。儘管紐柯公司認為它們是基於合理的假設，但不能保證未來的事件不會影響它們的準確性。

More information about the risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements may be found in Nucor's latest 10-K, and subsequently filed 10-Qs, which are available on the SEC's and Nucor's website. The forward-looking statements made in this conference call speak only as of this date, and Nucor does not assume any obligation to update them, either as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

有關與這些前瞻性陳述相關的風險和不確定性的更多信息，請參閱紐柯公司最新的 10-K 以及隨後提交的 10-Q，這些信息可在 SEC 和紐柯公司的網站上找到。本次電話會議中所做的前瞻性陳述僅代表截至目前的情況，紐柯公司不承擔任何因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而更新這些陳述的義務。

For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. John Ferriola, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Nucor Corporation. Please go ahead, sir.

我想請紐柯鋼鐵公司董事長、執行長兼總裁約翰費裡奧拉先生致開幕詞和介紹。請繼續，先生。

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us for our conference call. As always, we appreciate your interest in Nucor.

午安.感謝您參加我們的電話會議。一如既往，我們感謝您對紐柯鋼鐵的興趣。

With me for today's call are the other members of Nucor's senior management team: Chief Financial Officer Jim Frias, and our other Executive Vice Presidents, Jim Darsey, Ladd Hall, Ray Napolitan, Joe Stratman, Dave Sumoski and Chad Utermark. The entire executive management team would like to thank everyone on our Nucor, Harris Steel, David J. Joseph, Duferdofin, NuMit Steel Technologies, and Skyline's field teams for working hard, working smart, working together, and most importantly, working safely to take care of our customers in the first quarter of 2015.

與我一起參加今天電話會議的還有紐柯公司高階管理團隊的其他成員：財務長Jim Frias，以及我們的其他執行副總裁Jim Darsey、Ladd Hall、Ray Napolitan、Joe Stratman、Dave Sumoski 和Chad Utermark 。整個執行管理團隊要感謝我們的 Nucor、Harris Steel、David J. Joseph、Duferdofin、NuMit Steel Technologies 和 Skyline 現場團隊的每個人努力工作、聰明工作、共同努力，最重要的是，安全工作，以確保2015年第一季我們對客戶的關懷。

The current steel industry challenges are significant; but whether it's a short-term challenge such as energy industry turbulence, or a structural challenge such as excess global steel capacity, the Nucor team always runs toward the challenge, not away from it. We address the challenges we face head-on. Times of adversity allow us to demonstrate the strength of Nucor's business model. With our unbridled competitive advantages and adaptability, Nucor grows stronger during periods of industry distress. Achieving that goal is the unrelenting focus of the more than 23,000 Nucor teammates each day, as they continue their excellent work implementing our Company strategy for long-term profitable growth.

當前鋼鐵業面臨的挑戰是巨大的；但無論是能源產業動盪等短期挑戰，或是全球鋼鐵產能過剩等結構性挑戰，紐柯團隊始終奔向挑戰，而非迴避挑戰。我們直面面臨的挑戰。逆境讓我們展現了紐柯商業模式的實力。憑藉我們無與倫比的競爭優勢和適應能力，紐柯鋼鐵在產業低迷時期變得更加強大。實現這一目標是 23,000 多名紐柯員工每天不懈關注的焦點，他們繼續出色地實施我們公司的長期獲利成長策略。

I will now ask our CFO, Jim Frias, to review Nucor's first-quarter performance and financial position. Following Jim's comments, I will update you on current market conditions and execution of our strategy for long-term profitable growth. Jim?

我現在請我們的財務長吉姆‧弗里亞斯回顧紐柯第一季的業績和財務狀況。在吉姆的評論之後，我將向您介紹當前市場狀況以及我們長期獲利成長策略的執行情況。吉姆？

Thanks, John. First quarter of 2015 earnings of $0.21 per diluted share compare unfavorably against fourth quarter of 2014 earnings of $0.65 per diluted share, and year-ago first-quarter earnings of $0.35 per diluted share. The profitability of our steel mill segment for the first quarter of 2015 declined approximately 46% compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.

謝謝，約翰。2015 年第一季稀釋後每股收益為 0.21 美元，而 2014 年第四季稀釋後每股收益為 0.65 美元，去年同期第一季稀釋後每股收益為 0.35 美元。2015 年第一季度，我們鋼廠部門的獲利能力較 2014 年第四季下降了約 46%。

An unprecedented level of imports flooding the domestic market in late 2014 and early 2015 has pressured steel selling prices, margins and volumes for all of our steel mill products. The hot-rolled sheet market is the weakest, as a result of the combined impact of surging imports and the severe inventory correction under way in the energy pipe and tube sector. Capacity utilization in our steel-making operations fell to 65% for the first quarter of 2015, from the fourth quarter's rate of 76%.

2014 年底和 2015 年初，前所未有的進口量湧入國內市場，對我們所有鋼廠產品的鋼材售價、利潤和銷售量造成壓力。受進口激增和能源管材產業庫存大幅調整的綜合影響，熱軋板市場最為疲軟。2015 年第一季度，我們煉鋼業務的產能利用率從第四季的 76% 降至 65%。

Not surprisingly, our sheet mills experienced the largest decline quarter over quarter in production and shipments. Nucor's sheet mill shipments decreased 14% over this period, which compared to an 8% decline in total steel mill shipments.

毫不奇怪，我們的板材廠的產量和出貨量較上季下降幅度最大。在此期間，紐柯板材廠的出貨量下降了 14%，而鋼廠總出貨量下降了 8%。

Steel mill profitability was also impacted by continued erosion in selling prices that outpaced decreases in raw material costs. A decline in steel ton prices exceeded the reduction in our composite scrap and scrap usage cost, which were $39 per ton quarter over quarter. Average sales prices dropped $70 per ton for plate, $67 per ton for beams, and $49 per ton for sheet.

鋼廠獲利能力也受到銷售價格持續下降的影響，其下降幅度超過了原物料成本的下降幅度。鋼噸價格的下降幅度超過了綜合廢鋼和廢鋼使用成本的下降幅度，每噸則是季減了 39 美元。板材平均銷售價格每噸下降 70 美元，型材每噸下降 67 美元，板材每噸下降 49 美元。

The first quarter of 2015 performance of our raw materials segment includes an operating loss of approximately $44 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, at our new DRI facility in Louisiana. That is larger than the approximately $35 million operating loss Nucor Steel Louisiana experienced in the fourth quarter. Our Louisiana team has completed repairs and adjustments to the process gas heater that failed in November of last year. Operations resumed during the last week of the first quarter.

2015 年第一季我們原料部門的業績包括位於路易斯安那州的新 DRI 工廠的營運虧損約 4,400 萬美元，或攤薄後每股 0.09 美元。這比路易斯安那州紐柯鋼鐵公司第四季約 3,500 萬美元的營業虧損還要大。我們的路易斯安那州團隊已完成去年 11 月發生故障的製程氣體加熱器的維修和調整。第一季最後一周恢復營運。

On the positive side, our downstream products segment continues to capitalize on the slow but steady growth under way in non-residential construction markets. As expected, the segment's first-quarter profitability decreased from the fourth-quarter level due to typical seasonal factors. However, compared with the year-ago quarter, segment pre-tax profitability increased to more than $32 million from less than $2 million. Particularly strong profit improvement was achieved in our joist and decking, and metal building systems, businesses.

從積極的一面來看，我們的下游產品部門繼續受益於非住宅建築市場緩慢但穩定的成長。正如預期，由於典型的季節性因素，該部門第一季的獲利能力較第四季度有所下降。然而，與去年同期相比，該部門稅前獲利能力從不到 200 萬美元增加到超過 3,200 萬美元。我們的托樑和裝飾以及金屬建築系統業務實現了特別強勁的利潤成長。

A quick comment about our tax rates, which can be confusing, due to the impact of profits from non-controlling interests: After adjusting out profits belonging to our business partners, the effective tax rate was 33.9% for the first quarter.

由於非控股股東利潤的影響，我們的稅率可能會令人困惑：在調整屬於我們業務合作夥伴的利潤後，第一季的有效稅率為 33.9%。

Nucor's financial position remains strong. Our gross-debt-to-capital ratio was 36% at the close of the first quarter. Cash and short-term investments totaled $1.3 billion, including our net-debt-to-capital ratio at approximately 28%. Our next significant debt maturity is not until December 2017.

紐柯公司的財務狀況依然強勁。截至第一季末，我們的總負債與資本比率為 36%。現金和短期投資總計 13 億美元，其中淨負債與資本比率約為 28%。我們的下一個重大債務到期要到 2017 年 12 月。

Nucor's strong liquidity position also includes our $1.5-billion unsecured revolving credit facility, which remains undrawn. The facility does not mature until August of 2018. Nucor is the only North American steel producer to hold an investment-grade credit rating.

紐柯公司強大的流動性狀況還包括我們尚未提取的 15 億美元無擔保循環信貸額度。該設施要到 2018 年 8 月才會成熟。紐柯鋼鐵公司是北美唯一擁有投資等級信用評級的鋼鐵生產商。

Nucor continues to generate very robust operating cash flow throughout the cyclical up and downs that characterize the steel business. With our highly variable cost structure, we benefit from significant reductions in working capital during downturns. That was the case again in the first quarter of 2015, with cash provided by operations of $564 million, a dramatic increase from the year-ago first quarter. Our strong cash flow allowed us to increase our liquidity and retire the year-end 2014 commercial paper balance of about $150 million that had been issued to fund a portion of the Gallatin Steel acquisition in the fourth quarter of last year.

在鋼鐵業務的周期性起伏中，紐柯公司繼續產生非常強勁的營運現金流。由於我們的成本結構高度可變，我們在經濟低迷時期受益於營運資金的大幅減少。2015年第一季的情況再次如此，營運提供的現金為5.64億美元，較去年第一季大幅增加。強勁的現金流使我們能夠增加流動性，並收回 2014 年年底約 1.5 億美元的商業票據餘額，這些票據是為去年第四季收購 Gallatin Steel 的部分資金而發行的。

First-quarter 2015 capital expenditures totaled $70 million. We continue to estimate full-year 2015 capital spending will be approximately $500 million. Most of our recent larger-scale growth projects have been completed, or are nearing completion. Depreciation and amortization for 2015 is expected to total about $700 million.

2015 年第一季資本支出總計 7,000 萬美元。我們繼續預期 2015 年全年資本支出約為 5 億美元。我們最近的大多數大型成長項目已經完成或即將完成。2015年折舊及攤銷預計總計約7億美元。

John made an excellent point about the strength of Nucor's business model: it is one that enjoys competitive advantages, and a degree of flexibility that cannot be matched by any of our competitors in the North American steel industry. Nucor's strong balance sheet, consistently healthy cash flow generation, and conservative financial practices are critical components of our business model. Times of adversity, such as what our industry is currently undergoing, once again highlight the strength and value of Nucor's significant competitive advantages, and superior adaptability. Our focus is not on survival, but on growing stronger.

約翰對紐柯商業模式的優勢提出了精彩的觀點：它具有競爭優勢，並且具有北美鋼鐵業任何競爭對手都無法比擬的靈活性。紐柯公司強大的資產負債表、持續健康的現金流量產生以及保守的財務實踐是我們業務模式的關鍵組成部分。我們產業目前所經歷的逆境，再次凸顯了紐柯顯著的競爭優勢和超強的適應力的實力和價值。我們的重點不是生存，而是變得更強。

Earnings in the second quarter of 2015 are expected to be somewhat improved from the first quarter. The second quarter should be followed by further improvement in the second half of 2015, given the ongoing strength of non-residential construction, and its impact on our steel mills and downstream businesses. Non-residential construction activity accounts for more than half of the end-use demand for our products.

2015年第二季的獲利預計較第一季有所改善。鑑於非住宅建設的持續強勁及其對鋼廠和下游業務的影響，第二季之後的 2015 年下半年應該會進一步改善。非住宅建築活動占我們產品最終用途需求的一半以上。

Margins in the steel mill segment are expected to improve, although we will not realize the full benefits of lower raw material costs until there is greater stability in steel pricing. As service center destocking runs its course during this transition period, steel prices are expected to stabilize and rebound.

儘管在鋼鐵價格更加穩定之前我們無法充分認識到原材料成本降低的全部好處，但鋼廠部門的利潤率預計將有所改善。隨著服務中心去庫存的逐步推進，鋼材價格可望企穩回升。

Second-quarter performance at our raw materials segment will reflect continued high losses at the Louisiana DRI facility, and the impact of the nearly completed one-month maintenance outage at our DRI facility in Trinidad. The Louisiana plant has resumed production, and will be consuming higher-cost iron ore that was on hand when the plant suspended operations following a failure in its process gas heater in early November.

我們原物料部門第二季度的業績將反映出路易斯安那州 DRI 工廠持續高額虧損，以及特立尼達 DRI 工廠即將完成一個月維修中斷的影響。路易斯安那州工廠已恢復生產，並將消耗 11 月初工廠因製程氣體加熱器故障而暫停運作時現有的成本較高的鐵礦石。

Our steel products segment is expected to achieve continued improvement in profitability during the second quarter. All three major fabricated construction products -- joist and decking, fabricated rebar, and metal buildings -- are experiencing significant year-over-year gains in bookings, backlogs, and backlog margins. Over the past several months, our confidence has increased that the overall US non-residential construction market is set to deliver square-footage growth in the range of at least 7% to 8% in 2015. Such a growth rate would still place the market almost 40% below the peak level of 2007.

預計第二季鋼鐵產品板塊獲利能力將持續改善。所有三種主要的組裝式建築產品——托樑和蓋板、裝配式鋼筋和金屬建築——在預訂量、積壓訂單和積壓利潤方面都經歷了同比顯著增長。在過去的幾個月裡，我們對整個美國非住宅建築市場的信心增強，認為 2015 年美國整體非住宅建築市場的面積成長將至少在 7% 至 8% 範圍內。這樣的成長率仍使市場比 2007 年的峰值低近 40%。

Whatever short-term economic and steel industry conditions we face over the remainder of 2015, Nucor's unrivaled position of strength will allow our team to continue to execute on our proven strategies for delivering profitable, long-term growth and shareholder returns. We appreciate your interest in our Company.

無論我們在 2015 年剩餘時間內面臨何種短期經濟和鋼鐵行業狀況，紐柯無與倫比的實力地位都將使我們的團隊能夠繼續執行我們行之有效的戰略，以實現盈利、長期增長和股東回報。我們感謝您對我們公司的興趣。

John?

約翰？

Thanks, Jim. Nucor's culture has always been defined by our willingness to tackle and overcome challenges. We don't ignore problems; that's not an effective strategy for success, or even survival. When confronted by challenges, we find ways to grow stronger, while fixing or mitigating the problem.

謝謝，吉姆。紐柯公司的文化始終以我們應對和克服挑戰的意願來定義。我們不會忽視問題；這不是成功甚至生存的有效策略。當面臨挑戰時，我們會找到變得更強大的方法，同時解決或緩解問題。

During the first quarter, unprecedented volumes of steel imports continued to be a major challenge for our industry. Blatant foreign government support of their steel industries has resulted in a glut of global steel production. A brazen disregard for international trade rules has led to the dumping of steel products in our market. As a result, one in three tons of steel sold in the US today is produced abroad by less efficient, less safe, and less environmentally friendly countries.

第一季度，前所未有的鋼材進口量仍然是我們產業面臨的主要挑戰。外國政府對其鋼鐵業的公然支持導致了全球鋼鐵生產過剩。對國際貿易規則的公然無視導致了我國市場上鋼鐵產品的傾銷。因此，如今美國銷售的三噸鋼材中就有一噸是由效率較低、安全性較低和環境友善國家在國外生產的。

This is a real crisis for our industry. We are attacking this issue head-on, and fighting back. Nucor is working on a bipartisan basis with members of Congress and with the Administration to ensure that we have the strong and effective tools to combat unfair trade.

這對我們的行業來說是一場真正的危機。我們正在正面攻擊這個問題，並進行反擊。紐柯公司正在與國會議員和政府進行兩黨合作，以確保我們擁有強大而有效的工具來打擊不公平貿易。

If Congress passes trade promotion authority legislation, authorizing the President to enter into new free trade agreements, we believe the bill must be balanced with the strongest possible trade enforcement mechanisms, so that steel and other industries have the tools we need to fight this blatant disregard for international trade rules. There is substantial support from both democrats and republicans for doing this.

如果國會通過貿易促進授權立法，授權總統簽訂新的自由貿易協定，我們認為該法案必須與最強有力的貿易執行機制相平衡，以便鋼鐵和其他行業擁有我們所需的工具來打擊這種公然無視行為對於國際貿易規則。這樣做得到了民主黨和共和黨的大力支持。

Additionally, the Administration must take a much tougher line with countries that break the law. We have a set of rules governing trade. We follow those rules. When foreign countries and producers break those rules, there must be meaningful consequences. Applying tariffs and other remedies is simply holding governments accountable for the agreements that they signed. To that end, Nucor continues to assess market conditions, and will be proactive and aggressive in pursuing trade cases when and where it is appropriate.

此外，政府必須對違法國家採取更強硬的態度。我們有一套管理貿易的規則。我們遵守這些規則。當外國和生產商違反這些規則時，必然會產生有意義的後果。應用關稅和其他補救措施只是讓政府對其簽署的協議負責。為此，紐柯公司將繼續評估市場狀況，並將在適當的時間和地點積極主動地處理貿易案件。

I will now update you on some of our teams' organic growth initiatives under way to improve our long-term cost position, and expand our product portfolios to include more value-added, higher-margin offerings that are less impacted by the tsunami of imports. After restarting operations at the end of the first quarter, Nucor Steel Louisiana is once again producing DRI at the world-class quality levels that our team established prior to the equipment failure. It is important to note that the process gas heater is not part of the DRI technology utilized by Louisiana, but is ancillary industrial equipment required to operate the plant.

我現在將向您介紹我們團隊正在進行的一些有機成長計劃，以改善我們的長期成本狀況，並擴大我們的產品組合，以包括更多增值、更高利潤的產品，這些產品受進口海嘯的影響較小。在第一季末重新開始營運後，路易斯安那州紐柯鋼鐵公司再次按照我們團隊在設備故障之前建立的世界級品質水準生產直接還原鐵 (DRI)。值得注意的是，製程氣體加熱器不是路易斯安那州使用的 DRI 技術的一部分，而是工廠運作所需的輔助工業設備。

During Louisiana's just-completed shutdown, modifications to the process gas heater's original design were implemented to prevent the reoccurrence of a similar failure. One significant modification was the installation of two large dampers to enable the process gas heater to control its cooling rate, which will expand the life of the tubes that have failed in the past. Another significant modification was the addition of a nitrogen purge to the outlet of the heater to significantly reduce any collateral damage, in the event of any future tube failure.

在路易斯安那州剛完成的停工期間，對製程氣體加熱器的原始設計進行了修改，以防止類似故障再次發生。一項重大修改是安裝了兩個大型阻尼器，使製程氣體加熱器能夠控制其冷卻速率，這將延長過去失效的管道的使用壽命。另一個重大修改是在加熱器出口增加氮氣吹掃，以顯著減少未來發生管道故障時的任何附帶損害。

Louisiana has been a challenging start-up. Nevertheless, it is a major step forward in the implementation of our long-term strategy to optimize our [end-unit] costs. In fact, we believe it has already provided short-term benefits.

路易斯安那州一直是一個充滿挑戰的新創公司。儘管如此，這是實施我們優化[最終單位]成本的長期策略的重要一步。事實上，我們認為它已經帶來了短期效益。

The presence of our Louisiana DRI facility having produced 1.3 million tons last year, and preparing to resume production at the end of last quarter, was a meaningful factor supporting February's dramatic downward adjustment of more than $100 per ton in scrap pricing. That very much supports our belief in the long-term benefit of our DRI investment.

我們路易斯安那州直接還原鐵廠去年的產量為 130 萬噸，並準備在上季末恢復生產，這是支持 2 月廢鋼價格大幅下調每噸 100 美元以上的重要因素。這極大地支持了我們對 DRI 投資的長期利益的信念。

In the first quarter of 2015, our Hertford County, North Carolina, plate mills recently added heat-treating and normalizing assets, continued to run at full capacity of approximately 245,000 tons annually. The Hertford County team is capturing a growing share of value-added and higher-margin plate products. Relative to an investment of approximately $150 million, our value-added capabilities offer incremental pre-tax profit that should average $200 per ton through the cycle.

2015年第一季度，我們位於北卡羅來納州赫特福德縣的中厚板廠最近新增了熱處理和正火資產，繼續以每年約245,000噸的滿載運作。赫特福德縣團隊正在獲取越來越多的增值和高利潤板材產品份額。相對於約 1.5 億美元的投資，我們的增值能力可提供增量稅前利潤，在整個週期中平均每噸利潤應為 200 美元。

During the first quarter, the first field installation of Nucor-Yamato's new wider, sheet piling sections was successfully completed. This new product is the result of a $115-million project we started up in the fourth quarter of last year. Our customers will benefit from this new domestic piling solution, as they pursue Buy-American, government-funded infrastructure projects.

第一季度，紐柯大和公司新型加寬板樁部分的首次現場安裝成功完成。這款新產品是我們去年第四季啟動的耗資 1.15 億美元的計畫的成果。當我們的客戶追求購買美國產品、政府資助的基礎設施項目時，他們將受益於這種新的國內打樁解決方案。

Nucor-Yamato's expanded product portfolio will also create valuable synergies with the other products and services offered by the Skyline Steel piling distribution business we acquired in 2012. Our goal over the next several years is to grow our wider piling sections' annual volume to 100,000 tons, with combined steel mill and distribution pre-tax profit potential of approximately $450 per ton.

紐柯大和擴大的產品組合也將與我們 2012 年收購的 Skyline Steel 打樁分銷業務提供的其他產品和服務產生寶貴的協同效應。我們未來幾年的目標是將更廣泛的打樁部分的年產量增加到 100,000 噸，鋼廠和分銷商的稅前利潤潛力約為每噸 450 美元。

Momentum continues to build at Nucor Steel Berkeley's $98-million wide light capitals project that started up in early 2004 (sic), and has shipped approximately 120,000 tons last year. We expect to ship about 200,000 tons of the new products in 2015, and eventually grow volume to be at least 300,000 tons annually, with pre-tax profit averaging $100 per ton through the cycle. Berkeley now has the lightest hot-rolled gauge capability of any sheet mill in the southern United States market, and with a finished width capability of up to 72 inches. Of particular importance, the upgrade allows Nucor to produce thinner, high-strength steel grades, that we plan to use to develop lightweight automotive applications.

紐柯鋼鐵伯克利公司耗資 9,800 萬美元的寬輕資本項目於 2004 年初啟動（原文如此），勢頭持續強勁，去年已發貨約 12 萬噸。我們預計2015年新產品出貨量約20萬噸，最終每年產量至少增加30萬噸，整個週期稅前利潤平均為每噸100美元。柏克萊現在擁有美國南部市場上所有薄板廠中最輕的熱軋規格能力，成品寬度能力可達 72 英吋。特別重要的是，此次升級使紐柯公司能夠生產更薄的高強度鋼種，我們計劃將其用於開發輕量化汽車應用。

As I've said earlier, these are just some of the growth initiatives. I look forward to updating you again next quarter on our progress implementing our strategy for profitable growth.

正如我之前所說，這些只是一些成長舉措。我期待下個季度再次向您通報我們實施獲利成長策略的進展。

Here are some of the reasons why I believe Nucor will continue to deliver profitable, long-term growth and industry-leading returns on capital. Our low and highly variable cost structure is Nucor's bedrock competitive advantage. We understand that to generate attractive returns in a commodity business, you have to be a low-cost producer and seek continual improvement in your cost structure.

以下是我相信紐柯將繼續實現盈利、長期成長和行業領先的資本回報率的一些原因。我們的低成本且高度變動的成本結構是紐柯公司的基本競爭優勢。我們知道，要在商品業務中產生有吸引力的回報，您必須成為低成本生產商，並尋求成本結構的持續改進。

Our balance sheet, strength and through-the-cycle cash flow generation underpins our long-term focus and ability to take advantage of profitable growth opportunities, particularly during cyclical downturns. Our upstream vertical integration into raw materials enhances the profitability and flexibility of Nucor's core steel-making business. The David J. Joseph Company's unmatched global raw material supply chain, combined with our investments in DRI and scrap yards, gives Nucor best-in-class capabilities and flexibility in optimizing what is, by far, our largest single cost item -- high-end units.

我們的資產負債表、實力和整個週期的現金流產生支撐著我們的長期關注和利用獲利成長機會的能力，特別是在周期性低迷時期。我們對原料的上游垂直整合提高了紐柯核心煉鋼業務的獲利能力和靈活性。David J. Joseph 公司無與倫比的全球原料供應鏈，加上我們對直接還原鐵(DRI) 和廢料場的投資，為紐柯公司提供了一流的能力和靈活性，可以優化迄今為止我們最大的單一成本項目——高成本項目。終端單位。

Our industry-leading product and market diversity continues to grow as we move up the value chain in all of our businesses. Our downstream vertical integration into value-added steel products enhances the profitability and flexibility of Nucor's core steel-making business. Our expanded channels to market such as Harris Steel, Steel Technologies, and Skyline Steel, increase our ability to compete with unfairly traded imports by expanding our opportunities to add value to our customers. Our commitment to achieving commercial excellence by leveraging Nucor's competitive advantages, such as product diversity and operational flexibility, to create more value for, and build stronger relationships with, each of our customers.

隨著我們向所有業務的價值鏈上游邁進，我們行業領先的產品和市場多樣性不斷增長。我們對加值鋼鐵產品的下游垂直整合提高了紐柯核心煉鋼業務的獲利能力和靈活性。我們擴大了 Harris Steel、Steel Technologies 和 Skyline Steel 等市場管道，透過擴大為客戶增加價值的機會，提高了我們與不公平貿易進口產品競爭的能力。我們致力於利用紐柯公司的競爭優勢（例如產品多樣性和營運靈活性）來實現商業卓越，為每位客戶創造更多價值並與他們建立更牢固的關係。

And most importantly, Nucor's employees -- the right people. They embrace the Nucor culture's pay-for-performance philosophy, and passion for continuous improvement, and taking care of our customers, our shareholders, and their fellow teammates. That is why they are our Company's greatest asset, and our greatest competitive advantage.

最重要的是，紐柯公司的員工──對的人。他們擁護紐柯文化的績效付薪的概念，以及對持續改進的熱情，並關心我們的客戶、股東及其隊友。這就是為什麼他們是我們公司最大的資產，也是我們最大的競爭優勢。

As has been true throughout Nucor's history, our Company's best years are ahead of us. Thank you for your interest in Nucor. We would now be happy to take your questions.

正如紐柯公司的整個歷史一樣，我們公司最好的歲月就在前方。感謝您對紐柯鋼鐵的興趣。我們現在很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Luke Folta, Jefferies.

盧克·福爾塔，傑弗里斯。

John, can you help me bridge the gap between the commentary around non-res construction improvement and the shipment levels in the first quarter? If I look at some of the key categories -- structural and even in the joist and deck arena, and the bar business -- there's some fairly healthy declines year over year. Could you give us some color on what that is driven by? Is that mostly in import issue, or is it timing?

約翰，您能幫我彌補有關非資源建設改善的評論與第一季出貨水準之間的差距嗎？如果我看看一些關鍵類別——結構性的，甚至在托樑和甲板領域，以及酒吧業務——就會發現同比出現了一些相當健康的下降。您能給我們一些關於其驅動因素的說明嗎？這主要是進口問題，還是時機問題？

It's actually a combination of imports and timing. You're comparing it to first quarter of 2014, and if we focus on one, let's pick structural, but for the most part, --

它實際上是導入和時機的結合。你將其與 2014 年第一季進行比較，如果我們專注於一個，讓我們選擇結構性的，但在大多數情況下，--

I think he was compared to the fourth quarter.

我認為他是與第四節進行比較的。

Were you comparing to the first quarter or fourth quarter of last year?

您是與去年第一季還是第四季進行比較？

I'm looking year on year, 1Q to 1Q.

我逐年查看，從第一季到第一季。

My bad.

我的錯。

That's fine.

沒關係。

If we focus on one particular area -- let's just take structural. The reasons are basically the same for all of the categories. At the beginning of 2014, we're looking at a situation where, as you said, imports were much lower, service center inventories were down. We were going into a year where nonresidential construction was projected to be up. Frankly, in the first quarter, we were talking about price increases that were out there. So a combination of all of those resulted in much higher order entry rates in the first quarter of last year, compared to the first quarter of this year.

如果我們專注於一個特定領域——讓我們只專注於結構性的。所有類別的原因基本上相同。2014 年初，我們看到的情況是，正如您所說，進口量大幅下降，服務中心庫存也下降。我們即將進入非住宅建築預計將成長的一年。坦白說，在第一季度，我們談論的是價格上漲。因此，所有這些因素的結合導致去年第一季的訂單輸入率比今年第一季高得多。

Okay. If you look at the full-year expectation, given that you said square footage expected to grow about 7% to 8% this year -- outside of the first quarter issue, as it pertains to destocking and imports, would you expect that these categories should grow about in line with that pace?

好的。如果你看一下全年預期，考慮到你說今年的面積預計將增長約 7% 至 8%——除了第一季的問題，因為它涉及去庫存和進口，你是否預計這些類別應該按照這個速度增長嗎？

Again, taking imports out of the equation, if we see the growth that we are projecting in nonresidential construction, we should see volume increases compared to the first quarter, particularly as we move out of the seasonal issues that are affecting the first quarter in a lot of our businesses. Particularly when you look at some of the downstream businesses such as Harris, where, frankly, it's hard to do a lot of construction work in the first quarter, January and February, and many of our Harris facilities are located in Canada, just to amplify the situation.

再次，排除進口因素，如果我們看到非住宅建築預計的增長，我們應該會看到數量與第一季相比有所增加，特別是當我們擺脫影響第一季度的季節性問題時我們的許多業務。特別是你看看一些下游業務，比如Harris，坦白說，第一季、一月和二月很難做很多建設工作，而且我們Harris的很多工廠都位於加拿大，只是為了擴大產能。情況。

So we do expect to improve as we come out of the first quarter. Weather conditions improved, and we see the expected increase in nonresidential construction.

因此，我們確實預計第一季後會有所改善。天氣條件有所改善，我們預計非住宅建設將增加。

Okay. Just secondly, on DRI, understanding that we've got high cost inventory to work through and that impacts unit costs -- the average as well -- if we imagine a scenario where we stay in the $260, $275 pig iron environment and iron ore is $50, could you give us some sense of how we should think about profitability of DRI at full production? Is it profitable meaningfully at that level?

好的。其次，在 DRI 上，如果我們想像我們處於 260 美元、275 美元生鐵環境和鐵礦石的情況，我們需要處理高成本庫存，這會影響單位成本——平均成本。是50 美元，您是否可以告訴我們應該如何考慮滿載生產時DRI 的獲利能力？在這個水平上它是否有意義？

It would be cash positive at those levels. When you're talking about pig iron at $250. We do transfer our DRI on a pricing mechanism that's based upon pig iron. And I would say that at the level of about $250 for pig iron, we are cash positive.

在這些水平上，現金將是積極的。當你談論 250 美元的生鐵時。我們確實根據生鐵的定價機制轉移 DRI。我想說的是，在生鐵價格約為 250 美元的水平上，我們的現金狀況良好。

I would also point out, or I'd be quick to point out, that I personally believe $250 for pig iron is an unsustainable level. It's a result of some significant and unusual currency issues and geopolitical issues. So I personally would not expect that to stay at that low level long-term.

我還要指出，或者我會很快指出，我個人認為 250 美元的生鐵價格是不可持續的水平。這是一些重大且不尋常的貨幣問題和地緣政治問題的結果。因此，我個人預計這一數字不會長期維持在這麼低的水平。

Having said all of that, we said from the beginning when we talked about the DRI project, that over the course of the cycles, there's going to be times when we hit singles, times when we bunt, and sometimes when we hit grand slams. We talked just last quarter about the very positive contribution from our Trinidad operation, when pig iron was at a more normalized rate. And we expect it to be back up to those levels again, and we expect to see very good returns on our DRI investment when that occurs.

話雖如此，我們從一開始談論 DRI 專案時就說過，在周期的過程中，有時我們會打出單打，有時會打出短打，有時有時會打出大滿貫。就在上個季度，我們談到了特立尼達業務的非常積極的貢獻，當時生鐵的產量更加正常化。我們預計它會再次回到這些水平，我們預計當這種情況發生時，我們的 DRI 投資將獲得非常好的回報。

All right. Thank you, gentlemen.

好的。謝謝你們，先生們。

Timna Tanners, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

坦納斯 (Timna Tanners)，美銀美林。

Wanted to make sure I can understand what happened between your initial qualitative guidance, to the quantitative guidance, to the beat. Can you talk us through what changed in your assumptions, or what changed in the market environment to change the outcome?

我想確保我能理解你最初的定性指導、定量指導和節拍之間發生了什麼。您能告訴我們您的假設發生了什麼變化，或者市場環境發生了什麼變化從而改變了結果嗎？

Certainly we can do that. As always on these things, there's many factors. But the key one, the driver for all this, is, frankly, the steel performance, the performance of our steel mill.

我們當然可以做到。一如既往，在這些事情上，有很多因素。但坦白說，關鍵的因素，也就是這一切的驅動力，是鋼鐵的表現，是我們鋼廠的表現。

In forecasting, we underestimated the impact that we would have on our margins of scrap, pricing going down. We got through and realized a lower scrap price quicker. And, frankly, in some of our products, we have higher volumes. So the combination of an improved margin relative to our forecast and some volume increases above our forecast, we did beat the forecast, as you mentioned.

在預測中，我們低估了廢鋼利潤率和價格下降的影響。我們渡過了難關，並更快地實現了更低的廢鋼價格。而且，坦白說，在我們的一些產品中，我們的產量更高。因此，正如您所提到的，相對於我們的預測，利潤率有所提高，加上銷量有所增加，超出了我們的預測，我們確實超出了預測。

Okay. So two questions, to finish up then, that fall out of that is: one, why did prices fall less in sheet than they did in plate and beams? It's a very hard profile to see how much sheet prices have fallen recently, but plate and beams I thought had fallen just more recently with the $100 scrap move just in February. So why did you see plate and beams fall more than you did in sheet in the quarter?

好的。因此，最終要解決的兩個問題是：第一，為什麼板材價格的跌幅小於板材和梁材的價格跌幅？很難看出板材價格最近下跌了多少，但我認為隨著 2 月廢鋼價格上漲 100 美元，板材和樑的價格最近也出現了下跌。那麼，為什麼您在本季看到板材和梁材的跌幅比板材跌幅更大呢？

One element that you have to take into account when you -- to answer that question is that some portion of our sheet business is on quarter-over-quarter contract pricing that is based on some mechanism. So when there's a lag time before you see that decrease in those contract pricing. I would also point out that, although the import situation is very serious on sheet product, particularly plate, there has just been an unbelievable tsunami of import, imported plate over the last two quarters, and that of course, had a dramatic impact on our pricing of plates.

當你回答這個問題時，你必須考慮的一個因素是，我們板材業務的某些部分是基於某種機制的季度合約定價。因此，當您看到這些合約定價下降之前存在一段滯後時間。我還要指出的是，雖然板材產品特別是板材的進口形勢非常嚴峻，但是最近兩個季度發生了令人難以置信的進口海嘯，進口板材，這當然對我們的生產造成了巨大的影響。板材的定價。

Okay. That's helpful.

好的。這很有幫助。

The only other thing I wanted to ask is, maybe it's philosophical, but I've just been surprised at how -- I know prices always overcorrect in a down market, but why would a Company like a mini mill like yourselves, who has the flexibility to ramp down, continue to produce at these very low prices and to match imports? Isn't there a price at which you say, no, I don't want to make that low a margin, and I'm going to hold out, and you know that prices are expected to recover. Why has everybody, including yourselves, I guess, continued to produce and offer these low-price tons at import levels? At import equivalent levels? What do you think?

我唯一想問的另一件事是，也許這是哲學上的，但我只是驚訝於——我知道價格在低迷的市場中總是矯枉過正，但為什麼一家公司會喜歡像你們這樣的小型工廠，他們擁有是否能夠靈活地減少產量，繼續以極低的價格生產並與進口相匹配？是不是有一個價格，你會說，不，我不想讓利潤那麼低，我會堅持下去，你知道價格預計會回升。我想，為什麼每個人，包括你們自己，都繼續以進口水準生產和提供這些低價噸的產品？相當於進口水準嗎？你怎麼認為？

Well, it's always a balance. Right? You want to look at the volume put through your facility, which obviously impacts your fixed costs of that facility. So that's one issue.

嗯，這總是一個平衡。正確的？您想要查看通過您的設施的流量，這顯然會影響您該設施的固定成本。所以這是一個問題。

Secondly, we need to take care of our customers. We don't want to give up market share. Sometimes when you lose a customer or lose a business opportunity, it's hard to regain it, and our customers count on us being there, even when it's a difficult pricing environment. So those are a couple of reasons that we continue to operate.

其次，我們需要照顧我們的客戶。我們不想放棄市場佔有率。有時，當您失去客戶或失去商業機會時，就很難重新獲得它，而我們的客戶也指望我們在那裡，即使定價環境很困難。這是我們繼續營運的幾個原因。

I'll also point out that, Timna -- and let me know if I didn't answer that question, if I didn't cover what he wanted to hear on that -- but given the radical change in the scrap costs, which we frankly believe were coming, because of the large gap between scrap pricing and iron units, we felt that we could work our way through those tough times, keep our customers satisfied, maintain our market share, not lose good opportunities, knowing that we would ultimately be able to, as a result of our scrap costs going down, be able to correct pricing and get it closer to the market, to the imported price and maintain our margin.

我還要指出這一點，蒂姆納——如果我沒有回答這個問題，如果我沒有涵蓋他想聽到的內容，請告訴我——但考慮到廢品成本的根本變化，我們坦率地相信，由於廢鋼價格和鋼鐵單位之間存在巨大差距，我們認為我們可以努力度過那些艱難時期，讓我們的客戶滿意，保持我們的市場份額，不會失去很好的機會，因為我們知道我們會因為我們的廢品成本下降，最終能夠修正定價並使其更接近市場、進口價格並維持我們的利潤。

That makes sense. Thanks for the answer.

這就說得通了。感謝你的回答。

Evan Kurtz, Morgan Stanley.

埃文‧庫爾茨，摩根士丹利。

My first question is on trade. So, it seems like you're taking a two-pronged -- or maybe the industry is taking a two-pronged approach to trade issues. One is just putting together a trade case, we keep hearing about, on flatrolled. But the other is on the legislative front.

我的第一個問題是關於貿易的。所以，看來你們正在採取雙管齊下的方法——或者產業可能正在採取雙管齊下的方法來解決貿易問題。我們不斷聽到，其中一個只是將一個貿易案例放在一起，進行平鋪。但另一個是在立法方面。

Senator Brown has got these leveling the playing field rules that he's, I assume, trying to attach to the TPA at this point. So it seems like maybe there's a chance you get some of these rules that would actually change the way that harm is measured in the US through, in the next few months here. How do those two things impact one another?

布朗參議員已經制定了這些公平競爭規則，我認為他目前正試圖將其附加到 TPA 中。因此，在接下來的幾個月裡，您似乎有機會獲得其中一些規則，這些規則實際上會改變美國衡量傷害的方式。這兩件事如何相互影響？

My question is, would you wait to file a trade case on flat rolled if you think you could maybe change the rules at the ITC on the harm decision? Or are those completely independent?

我的問題是，如果您認為可以改變 ITC 關於損害決定的規則，您會等待提交平軋貿易案件嗎？還是那些是完全獨立的？

When we fight, we use both fists, okay? So those are the two-pronged approach, and we're going to use both of those prongs to achieve a level playing field, so that our teammates can be successful -- which we know they will be, on a level playing field.

當我們打架時，我們用雙拳，好嗎？因此，這些是雙管齊下的方法，我們將利用這兩個腳來實現公平的競爭環境，以便我們的隊友能夠取得成功——我們知道他們會在公平的競爭環境中取得成功。

I've mentioned on the last couple of calls that I felt we were gaining traction in Washington, on both of those fronts. I still do. We are getting a much better reception. People are beginning to understand -- I believe, people are beginning to understand the impact of these illegally traded products on our industry, and on our teammates, and steelworkers in general. It's about focusing and pursuing trade cases when it's appropriate, and moving forward on the legislative front at the same time.

我在過去幾次電話中提到，我覺得我們在華盛頓在這兩方面都獲得了支持。我仍然。我們受到了更好的接待。人們開始理解——我相信，人們開始理解這些非法交易產品對我們的產業、我們的隊友以及整個鋼鐵工人的影響。這是關於在適當的時候關注和追究貿易案件，同時在立法方面取得進展。

We see great opportunity, frankly, on the legislative front, particularly with the TPA discussions that are going on today. We are pushing very hard, and getting good reception on both sides of the aisle, to the concept that if TPA is going to be approved, it must be approved with strong trade language to protect our industries, and give us the ability to better, and more effectively, and more proactively fight illegally traded products.

坦白說，我們在立法方面看到了巨大的機會，特別是今天正在進行的 TPA 討論。我們正在非常努力地推動這一理念，並得到了兩黨的一致好評：如果TPA 要獲得批准，就必須以強有力的貿易語言獲得批准，以保護我們的產業，並使我們有能力更好地、更有效、更主動打擊非法交易產品。

Great. Maybe on the trade case, what's your outlook there on timing? It seems like it's been a pretty weak first quarter for most folks, at this point. And second quarter, probably for most folks will also be fairly difficult. Do you think the case is ready to bring at this point? Or do you need to demonstrate more harm before the industry is comfortable filing?

偉大的。也許就貿易案而言，您對時間安排有何看法？對大多數人來說，第一季似乎相當疲軟。第二季度對大多數人來說可能也將相當困難。您認為此時此案準備好提起了嗎？還是您需要證明更多危害才能讓業界放心提出申請？

Let me be clear. We will continue to assess the market and we will implement the trade case at the appropriate time.

讓我說清楚。我們將繼續評估市場，並在適當的時候實施交易案例。

Okay. And then one last one, quickly, on scrap. What's your view for the upcoming month? It seems like [flu] is maybe starting to pick up a little bit, which would be negative, but maybe demand's coming back. Where do you think it all shakes out?

好的。然後最後一件，很快，就報廢了。您對下個月有何看法？看來[流感]可能開始加劇，這將是負面的，但也許需求正在回升。你認為這一切都在哪裡動搖？

Frankly, our forecast would be pretty flatlined for the rest of the year. Obviously, when you talk about scrap, there's always slight variations in different regions. We expect some movements from different regions -- up $5, down $10, so forth -- as we go throughout the year. But overall, as you look at the year as a whole, I think we're going to be pretty flatlined on scrap pricing.

坦白說，我們對今年剩餘時間的預測將相當平穩。顯然，當您談論廢品時，不同地區總是存在細微的差異。我們預計全年不同地區會出現一些變動——上漲 5 美元，下跌 10 美元，等等。但總體而言，當你縱觀今年全年時，我認為我們的廢鋼定價將會相當持平。

Great. Thanks for that. I'll turn it over.

偉大的。感謝那。我會把它翻過來。

Matthew Korn, Barclays.

馬修·科恩，巴克萊銀行。

Let me ask -- how much have your lead times improved today, say, versus the bottom of this previous quarter? And how deeply are you sold into May, June, particularly as you're expecting much better results from the downstream segment looking ahead?

讓我問一下—與上一季底部相比，您今天的交貨時間縮短了多少？您在 5 月、6 月的銷售量有多深，特別是您預計下游領域未來會有更好的業績？

Well, as we mentioned in the script, this is a quarter of transition. So we're not quite sure when we'll see that actual kick in. Today, there's, I would say, a very modest improvement in lead times -- very modest, frankly, not significantly over first quarter. That would expand or go across, that would apply to basically all of our products.

嗯，正如我們在劇本中提到的，這是四分之一的過渡。所以我們不太確定什麼時候會看到真正的啟動。我想說，今天，交貨時間有了非常溫和的改善——坦白說，非常溫和，比第一季沒有顯著改善。這將擴大或跨越，這將適用於我們基本上所有的產品。

Now, the one exception I would add to that is in the sheet side on the galvanized and the cold rolled products. Those lead times are longer. We still see a pretty strong demand in that area.

現在，我要補充的一個例外是鍍鋅和冷軋產品的板材一側。這些交貨時間更長。我們仍然看到該領域的需求相當強勁。

All right. Following up on that, and on your volume expectations, gradual construction and order demand improvements -- when you're looking into the transitional second quarter, is the improvement in earnings really going to be mostly a margin expansion story on the realization of lower scrap costs? Or could you see some real volume improvement?

好的。在此基礎上，以及您的產量預期、逐步的建設和訂單需求改善——當您考慮過渡性的第二季度時，收益的改善是否真的主要是實現較低廢品率的利潤率擴張故事成本？或者你能看到一些實際的音量改進嗎？

I'd say it would be a combination of the two. And again, if you divvy it out further than that, get more specific than that -- very difficult to do. I would say that it was a combination of both.

我想說這將是兩者的結合。再說一次，如果你把它劃分得更遠，就變得更具體——很難做到。我想說這是兩者的結合。

Got it. Appreciate the time, gentlemen. Thank you.

知道了。珍惜時間，先生們。謝謝。

Matt Murphy, UBS.

馬特‧墨菲，瑞銀集團。

I was just wondering what your capacity utilization is right now? If it was 65% on average for Q1, would it be lower than that now?

我只是想知道您現在的產能利用率是多少？如果第一季平均是65%，會比現在低嗎？

It's about the same. I can't speak to what it is exactly today, but so far, we've been about the same.

差不多吧。我無法確切地說出今天的情況，但到目前為止，我們的情況大致相同。

Okay. And I guess I'm just wondering, what -- does the recovery profile of that, like we should basically be watching imports coming off, to drive that back up?

好的。我想我只是想知道，復甦的情況，就像我們基本上應該觀察進口的減少一樣，會推動其回升嗎？

Well again, it will be a number of factors. Imports beginning to drop off, but what we have seen -- and I want to stress that it's going to be a while before we see that drop off, although we've seen a slight decline in licenses -- there's so much out there in the pipeline that this is going to take -- and so much has already reached the service centers and just build up their inventories -- it's going to be a while before we work our way through that.

再說一次，這將是由許多因素決定的。進口開始下降，但我們所看到的——我想強調的是，我們還需要一段時間才能看到下降，儘管我們看到許可證略有下降——有太多的東西在這將要採取的管道——很多東西已經到達服務中心並建立了他們的庫存——我們需要一段時間才能完成這項工作。

Now, I can tell you that, for the first time this month, the numbers that just came out on service center inventories, we've seen them being down just a little bit. But imports are something you can certainly watch. And there's other factors, too, particularly on our sheet business. When you want to look at oil prices, I can't tell you when it's going to recover. But certainly we've seen a tremendous impact on our flatrolled business as a result of oil pricing going from $100 to $50. Our volumes are way down. Same situation there. We've flooded the pipeline with material. There's been a complete stop as they work their way through this inventory.

現在，我可以告訴你，本月第一次，剛剛公佈的服務中心庫存數字略有下降。但進口產品確實值得關注。還有其他因素，尤其是我們的板材業務。當你想看油價時，我無法告訴你它什麼時候會恢復。但毫無疑問，我們已經看到石油價格從 100 美元漲到 50 美元對我們的扁平化業務產生了巨大影響。我們的銷量大幅下降。那裡的情況也一樣。我們已經在管道中註入了材料。當他們清理這份清單時，完全停止了。

At some point -- I frankly don't think it will be in the second quarter -- but some point during the course of the year, maybe third or fourth quarter, we'll start working our way through that inventory. And we'll see order rates that are consistent with the new normal drilling levels that are expected with the lower price. Another thing you could keep your eye on is currency. Obviously the strong dollar has an impact on what's happening, both on a raw materials side and on our steel shipments side, as it relates to imports and other factors.

在某個時候——坦率地說，我認為不會是在第二季度——但在一年中的某個時候，也許是第三或第四季度，我們將開始處理該庫存。我們將看到訂單率與預計價格較低的新正常鑽井水準一致。您可以關注的另一件事是貨幣。顯然，強勢美元對原材料方面和我們的鋼鐵運輸方面的情況都有影響，因為它與進口和其他因素有關。

So I've tried to give you a couple of things that you could keep an eye on, but there's a multitude of things that we have to watch to see what's going to happen as we go forward.

因此，我試圖向您提供一些您可以關注的事情，但是我們必須關注很多事情，以了解我們前進時會發生什麼。

Yes. That's good color.

是的。這顏色真好啊

I'm basically just looking -- is this a three-month thing or a six-month thing? I understand it's dependent on all those factors.

我基本上只是在考慮——這是三個月的事情還是六個月的事情？我知道這取決於所有這些因素。

I guess on scrap prices, I've been a little bit surprised that no one's expecting, it seems, much more weakness there, given we've seen continued iron ore weakness. So I guess just on scrap -- what's the confidence that we've got some pricing stability for a while here?

我想就廢鋼價格而言，我有點驚訝，因為我們看到鐵礦石持續疲軟，似乎沒有人預期廢鋼價格會進一步走軟。所以我想就廢品而言——我們對暫時保持價格穩定的信心有多大？

Well, all I can tell you is my confidence level. We gave you our projection, we believe in that projection. We think that it's going to be fairly stable. Right now, iron ore pricing -- it fluctuates a little bit but it's been relatively stable, also. If there's a dramatic change in iron ore pricing, it might have a reflection in scrap pricing, but we don't see that at this time.

好吧，我只能告訴你我的信心程度。我們給了你們我們的預測，我們相信這個預測。我們認為它會相當穩定。目前，鐵礦石價格略有波動，但也相對穩定。如果鐵礦石價格發生巨大變化，可能會反映在廢鋼價格上，但目前我們還沒有看到這種情況。

Okay. Thanks.

好的。謝謝。

Michael Gambardella, JPMorgan.

麥可甘巴德拉，摩根大通。

Have a question: if you are assuming that scrap prices are going to stay relatively flat the rest of the year, and you saw this massive $100 drop a couple months ago, when do you, or are you now picking up share against the integrated mills who are basically at fixed costs, and when you get the $100 drop in scrap, they saw very little of it?

有一個問題：如果您假設今年剩餘時間廢鋼價格將保持相對平穩，並且您在幾個月前看到了100 美元的大幅下跌，那麼您什麼時候會這樣做，或者您現在是否正在搶佔綜合鋼廠的份額他們基本上處於固定成本，當廢品減少 100 美元時，他們幾乎沒有看到什麼？

Well, obviously, it's made us much more competitive. And the reason people buy steel is based upon four things -- I've said this many times -- service, quality, on-time delivery, and price. When we were in a situation where there was such a difference between scrap and iron ore pricing, we were at a real disadvantage on pricing, and that impacted our competitive position. Frankly, when I think about how we did during that period where the gap was so large, I'm really proud of the job our team did on the other three elements of quality, service, and delivery. That kept us in the game, when we had $100 differential on cost.

嗯，顯然，這讓我們更具競爭力。人們購買鋼材的原因基於四件事——我已經說過很多次了——服務、品質、準時交貨和價格。當我們處於廢鋼和鐵礦石定價存在如此大差異的情況下，我們在定價上處於真正的劣勢，這影響了我們的競爭地位。坦白說，當我想到我們在差距如此之大的那段時期的表現時，我真的為我們團隊在品質、服務和交付等其他三個要素上所做的工作感到自豪。當我們的成本差異為 100 美元時，這讓我們留在了遊戲中。

Now that, that has been reduced, with scrap coming down, very confident that we will continue to be aggressive. And now we've got -- we're competitive on all four of those elements, and I feel good about the way that we'll go forward in terms of gaining market share.

現在，隨著廢品率的下降，這種情況已經減少，我們非常有信心我們將繼續積極進取。現在我們在所有四個要素上都具有競爭力，我對我們在獲得市場份額方面的前進方式感到滿意。

Is your sense that you're gaining market share now?

您是否感覺自己正在獲得市場份額？

I'm not going to get into specifics at any one point in time. I'll just say again, now that we have the pricing, competitive with not only integrators, but we've reduced the gap between imported pricing and our pricing, and we delivered superior quality service and delivery -- based on all of that, I'm confident that our team will gain market share as we move forward throughout the year. Now, there's going to be a lot of factors that come into that, as we have talked about in the past.

我不會在任何一個時間點談論具體細節。我再說一遍，現在我們的定價不僅與整合商競爭，而且我們還縮小了進口定價與我們定價之間的差距，並且我們提供了優質的服務和交付——基於所有這些，我相信，隨著我們全年的前進，我們的團隊將獲得市場份額。正如我們過去討論過的，其中會涉及很多因素。

Thanks a lot, John.

非常感謝，約翰。

Brian Yu, Citi.

布萊恩·餘，花旗銀行。

Just wanted to follow-up on Timna's comments earlier.

只是想跟進 Timna 早些時候的評論。

I guess I'm equally surprised that spot price has been competed down below $450, and I know imports continue to be a big problem. But if you just look at where import offers are today versus physical flows [and the like], do you think we've passed the point where now it's more about domestic competition for market share versus all of the domestic producers trying to keep out the imports?

我想我同樣驚訝的是現貨價格已經跌破 450 美元，而且我知道進口仍然是一個大問題。但是，如果你只看一下今天的進口報價與實體流量[等]的情況，你是否認為我們已經過了這樣的階段：現在更多的是國內市場份額的競爭，而不是所有國內生產商試圖排除在外的情況。進口？

Let me be real clear about this. Imports continue to be our number one threat. We're focusing on pricing here, but you need to remember that there's such a tremendous overcapacity -- you're looking at 300 million tons of excess capacity worldwide. That is going to continuously put pressure on our market and our profitability.

讓我說清楚這一點。進口仍然是我們的第一大威脅。我們在這裡關注的是定價，但你需要記住，產能過剩如此巨大——你看到的是全球3億噸的過剩產能。這將持續對我們的市場和獲利能力造成壓力。

Now, having said that, we have reduced the gap between domestic pricing and imported pricing. But look, imports are going to continue to be our number one challenge for our industry, and our Company as a whole.

現在，話雖如此，我們已經縮小了國內定價與進口定價之間的差距。但看，進口將繼續成為我們產業和整個公司面臨的首要挑戰。

Okay. Second question, this is more with your iron ore pellets inventory. How much inventory do you typically keep on hand at Louisiana? I think you mentioned earlier that you're probably going to use through the high cost in second quarter. So if that occurs --?

好的。第二個問題，這與您的鐵礦石球團庫存有關。您在路易斯安那州通常持有多少庫存？我想你之前提到過，你可能會在第二季使用高成本。那麼如果這種情況發生──？

Well, let me first, if I may, just correct that, because I want to make sure we're clear on this. Today, there's a gap of about $60 between the pricing of the iron ore that we have on the ground, and what market pricing would be. At the end of the second quarter, we expect that we will reduce that gap from about $60 down to about $15. We'll reduce the gap by $45 at the end of the second quarter. It will take us through the third quarter, sometime around the middle or towards the end of the third quarter, before we reduce that last $15 gap, and get us down to market price for iron ore.

好吧，如果可以的話，讓我先糾正一下，因為我想確保我們清楚這一點。如今，我們現有的鐵礦石定價與市場定價之間存在約 60 美元的差距。到第二季末，我們預計這一差距將從 60 美元左右縮小到 15 美元左右。我們將在第二季末將差距縮小 45 美元。它將帶領我們度過第三季度，大約在第三季度中期或接近尾聲的時候，然後我們縮小最後 15 美元的差距，並使我們的鐵礦石價格降至市場價格。

Now, please continue with your question, but I wanted to correct that and be very specific on that.

現在，請繼續回答你的問題，但我想糾正這個問題並非常具體。

All right. That was a lot more information than I would hope for, so great. Maybe along those lines, how much inventory do you typically keep on hand? If we see prices move down in Q1, how long before that actually flows through in a more normalized basis? And then --?

好的。這比我希望的資訊多得多，太棒了。也許沿著這些思路，您通常手邊有多少庫存？如果我們看到第一季價格下跌，那麼距離實際以更正常化的方式流動需要多長時間？進而 - ？

You're asking now about iron ore? You asked about iron ore?

你現在問的是鐵礦石嗎？你問的是鐵礦石嗎？

Just iron ore in general.

一般只是鐵礦石。

That would be about five to six weeks at Louisiana.

在路易斯安那州大約需要五到六週的時間。

Okay. When you take these inventory adjustments, does some of that LIFO credit incorporate assumptions about iron ore pellet costs in there? Or is that completely separate?

好的。當您進行這些庫存調整時，某些 LIFO 信用是否包含了有關鐵礦石球團成本的假設？或者說這是完全獨立的？

Well, it certainly affects our LIFO calculation at the steel mills that are on LIFO, but the DRI plans are not under LIFO.

嗯，它肯定會影響我們在採用 LIFO 的鋼鐵廠的 LIFO 計算，但 DRI 計劃並未採用 LIFO。

Okay. Got it. Thank you.

好的。知道了。謝謝。

Nathan Littlewood, Credit Suisse.

內森·利特伍德，瑞士信貸。

Just had a couple of questions. The first on market share, on the back of Matt's question earlier.

只是有幾個問題。第一個是市場份額，是在馬特之前提出的問題的基礎上提出的。

Could you talk a little bit about where you might be seeing market share opportunities in the back half of the year, be it either by product or end market?

您能否談談今年下半年您可能會在哪些方面看到市場份額機會，無論是產品還是終端市場？

Well, we talked about the growth the organic growth that we've had, and the products that we're bringing to the market. So certainly, we would expect to see market share growth in our structural business, with our new piling sections, when we talked about the growth in the sheet side of the business, with [wide] light project, and how we expect that to grow year over year. SBQ would be another area. As we continue to bring new products onto the marketplace, we are continually moving forward with our projects in SBQ, so I expect market share growth in that area also.

好吧，我們討論了我們的有機成長，以及我們向市場推出的產品。因此，當然，當我們談論板材業務的成長（包括[寬]輕型項目）以及我們預計其成長方式時，我們預計會看到我們的結構業務的市場份額隨著我們新的打樁部分的增長而增長。一年又一年。SBQ 將是另一個領域。隨著我們不斷將新產品推向市場，我們也不斷推動 SBQ 的項目，因此我預計該領域的市場份額也會成長。

And so what did I leave out -- plate? We mentioned we're running our heat treat and mobilizing and running basically at full capacity. And I mentioned the projects that we're doing on our bar mills, SBQ mills, so I don't want to leave our rod products, which we are introducing new rod products to the market that have been accepted very well, so we expect to grow our market share there also.

那我遺漏了什麼——盤子？我們提到我們正在進行熱處理並動員並基本上滿載運行。我提到了我們正在棒材軋機、SBQ 軋機上​​進行的項目，所以我不想離開我們的棒材產品，我們正在向市場推出新的棒材產品，這些產品已被很好地接受，所以我們期望也擴大我們在那裡的市場份額。

And as I've mentioned on calls in the past, one of the few bright spots in the marketplace today is automotive. And we expect to grow our participation in automotive this year also. Last year, we shipped about maybe 1.1 million tons, sheet and SBQ combined products into automotive. And this year we are anticipating shipping about 1.45 million tons of combined sheet and SBQ into the automotive market. And part of that's being supported by -- I'm going to put a little plug in here for our new Detroit automotive office that we've just established. And it's been well-received by the automotive companies. We had metallurgical and engineering teammates and salespeople in that office to help support our push into automotive.

正如我過去在電話中提到的，當今市場上為數不多的亮點之一是汽車。我們預計今年也會增加對汽車產業的參與。去年，我們向汽車業運送了大約 110 萬噸板材和 SBQ 組合產品。今年，我們預計將向汽車市場運送約 145 萬噸板材和 SBQ。其中一部分得到了支持——我將為我們剛剛建立的新底特律汽車辦事處提供一些支援。並且受到了汽車公司的好評。我們的辦公室裡有冶金和工程團隊的同事以及銷售人員來幫助支持我們進入汽車領域。

That's useful. John, are there any updates on the exposed auto or body-in-white industry, since last we spoke about this?

這很有用。約翰，自從我們上次討論這個問題以來，暴露的汽車或白車身行業有什麼更新嗎？

Certainly body in white -- that's one of our strong points that we're moving into. And when you say exposed, exposed accounts for about 15% of the weight of steel per vehicle. And certainly, we want to play in that game, and we do. We have a product that we can put into that, and have put into that exposed application, but it's clearly not a focus point for us.

當然，白色車身——這是我們正在努力發展的優勢之一。當你說裸露時，裸露約佔每輛車鋼材重量的15%。當然，我們想參加那場比賽，我們也確實這麼做了。我們有一個可以放入其中的產品，並且已經放入該公開的應用程式中，但這顯然不是我們的重點。

When we look at body in white, we see 75% of the volume going in there -- that's our focus point. When we look at what they call closures, which represents 25%, the remaining 25%, and only 10%, 15% of that is exposed. So combined, you're looking at 15% out of the total weight of the car. It's not something, not what our major push is going to be.

當我們觀察白色主體時，我們會看到 75% 的體積都在其中——這就是我們的焦點。當我們看著他們所謂的閉包時，這代表了 25%，剩下的 25%，只有 10%，其中 15% 是暴露的。因此，您所看到的重量佔汽車總重量的 15%。這不是什麼，也不是我們主要的推動力。

Got it. Okay. That's helpful.

知道了。好的。這很有幫助。

My final one was just on the DRI project, in raw materials. So look, I totally understand the raw material strategy here. And we do like the fact that there is this additional flexibility built into your iron units procurement here. But could we consider a scenario where the pricing environment is just not conducive to DRI being profitable? And let's assume it's something to do with iron ore and pig iron spreads? Could you talk a little bit about what sort of flexibility you have in your raw material contracts to effectively flex those volumes down? And say, reduce DRI output, just because it isn't profitable, or it can't be profitable? And perhaps then bring it back again later in the future when margins or spreads are a bit more conducive to that plant being profitable?

我的最後一項是關於原材料方面的 DRI 項目。所以看，我完全理解這裡的原料策略。我們確實喜歡這樣一個事實，即您在這裡採購的鑄鐵設備具有這種額外的靈活性。但我們是否可以考慮定價環境不利於 DRI 獲利的情況？我們假設這與鐵礦石和生鐵價差有關？您能否談談您在原材料合約中擁有什麼樣的靈活性來有效地降低這些數量？並說，減少 DRI 產量，只是因為它不盈利，或者不能盈利？也許將來當利潤或利差更有利於該工廠盈利時再次將其帶回來？

We get our raw material iron ore from four different sources. I'm not going to give you the specifics of what kind of contract we have with each one of those particular suppliers. But in general, we have a level of about 25% to 35% flexibility in the supply of raw material iron units. So we could cut it back 25% or 35% -- and I'm talking now, across all the contracts. I'm not going to get any more specific than that.

我們從四個不同的來源取得原料鐵礦石。我不會向您詳細介紹我們與每位特定供應商簽訂的合約類型。但總體而言，我們在原料鐵單位的供應方面具有約25％至35％的靈活性。所以我們可以將其削減 25% 或 35%——我現在說的是所有合約。我不會說得更具體。

But if I may, I want to take a moment here, because there was a question earlier about the DRI, and how should they look at when the cost of iron units is going down, we would see an improvement. And I answered the question because it was tied originally back to the amount of weeks on hand of iron ore supply inventory we had. And I said that we keep about five to six weeks of inventory on the ground.

但如果可以的話，我想在這裡花點時間，因為之前有一個關於 DRI 的問題，以及當煉鐵成本下降時，他們應該如何看待，我們會看到改善。我回答了這個問題，因為它最初與我們現有的鐵礦石供應庫存週數有關。我說我們在當地保留了大約五到六週的庫存。

That is an accurate statement, but if he was looking to get some sense of when pricing changes, relative to iron ore pricing on an index basis changes, we need to factor in the issue that we buy on a quarterly basis, with a lagging quarter. So for whoever asked that question earlier about seeing changes in the pricing of our raw material going into Louisiana, please bear in mind when you see the change occur in the index, there is a one-quarter lag in the pricing that we receive at the plant itself. Okay?

這是一個準確的說法，但如果他想了解價格何時發生變化，相對於指數基礎上的鐵礦石定價變化，我們需要考慮我們按季度購買的問題，其中滯後季度。因此，對於之前問過有關進入路易斯安那州的原材料價格變化的問題的人，請記住，當您看到指數發生變化時，我們收到的價格有四分之一的滯後植物本身。好的？

Great. Thanks very much, John. I appreciate it.

偉大的。非常感謝，約翰。我很感激。

That correction is credited to Joe Stratman, who held up a piece of paper, and said, quarterly prices.

這項修正歸功於喬·斯特拉特曼（Joe Stratman），他舉起一張紙，說道，季度價格。

Phil Gibbs, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Phil Gibbs，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Just had a question on the US rationalization of scrap collection and processing, and maybe what you've been seeing there the last couple months? And whether or not you will be participating in that trend?

剛剛對美國廢料收集和加工的合理化有疑問，也許您過去幾個月在那裡看到了什麼？您是否會參與此趨勢？

Clearly, as the pricing has dropped, and everyone that's in the processing game knows it's been very challenging, margins have been severely compressed, and it's very challenging for processors to make a decent profit. And we expect to see some people not making it through this very difficult time. Certainly, we have a strong balance sheet, which gives us the opportunity -- and we have a strong balance sheet and a history of taking advantage of downturns in troubled times to grow our businesses. So we'll keep an eye out for assets that come available, when they make sense, they fit into our strategic plan for raw materials, the locations are right, the pricing is right. I'll tell you what -- we won't be shy. We'll be at the table.

顯然，隨著價格的下降，每個參與加工遊戲的人都知道這非常具有挑戰性，利潤被嚴重壓縮，加工商要獲得可觀的利潤非常具有挑戰性。我們預期有些人無法度過這個非常困難的時期。當然，我們擁有強大的資產負債表，這給了我們機會——而且我們擁有強大的資產負債表，並且擁有在困難時期利用經濟低迷來發展業務的歷史。因此，我們將密切注意可用的資產，當它們有意義時，它們符合我們的原材料策略計劃，位置正確，定價正確。我會告訴你——我們不會害羞。我們會在餐桌旁。

John?

約翰？

Yes?

是的？

Just curious as to whether or not you're seeing actual rationalization, particularly in the South?

只是好奇您是否看到了真正的合理化，特別是在南方？

We haven't seen much of it yet. But remember that usually, a lot of times, it's not during the downturn where you see the greatest pressure on these smaller companies, but actually during the upturn when they have to start replacing inventory. When you're depleting inventory, you generate cash. When you have to replace inventory, you burn through cash, and sometimes that can be more challenging as it bottoms out and begins the upturn, when you really see companies struggle to stay in business.

我們還沒有看到太多。但請記住，通常很多時候，這些小公司面臨的最大壓力並不是在經濟低迷時期，而是在經濟復甦時期，他們必須開始更換庫存。當你耗盡庫存時，你就會產生現金。當你必須更換庫存時，你會消耗現金，有時，當你真正看到公司在努力維持經營時，當它觸底並開始好轉時，這可能會更具挑戰性。

Okay. Then I appreciate that.

好的。那我很感激。

And I just had a question for clarification, because you were generous enough to give out some of the targets here on Hertford, Yamato, and Berkeley on those projects. Were you saying that the Hertford normalizing line is about $200 a ton over what your normal mix is? And then the same thing with Yamato on the $450, and then Berkeley on the $100? Thanks.

我只是有一個需要澄清的問題，因為您足夠慷慨地給出了赫特福德、大和和伯克利這些項目的一些目標。您是說赫特福德正火生產線比您的正常混合價格大約每噸 200 美元嗎？然後，Yamato 的 450 美元也是如此，然後 Berkeley 的 100 美元也是如此？謝謝。

That is correct.

那是對的。

Appreciate it. Good luck.

欣賞它。祝你好運。

Andrew Lane, Morningstar.

安德魯萊恩，晨星公司。

Couple questions here.

這裡有幾個問題。

First, I wanted to ask about the upcoming DRI facility outage in Trinidad in the second quarter. Is that a standard maintenance project? Or are you implementing process improvements that you have just implemented at the Louisiana facility? And then on a related note, is the timing related to the availability of low-priced pig iron from abroad? And what will be the anticipated operating loss associated with the outage? Thanks.

首先，我想詢問第二季特立尼達即將發生的 DRI 設施中斷的情況。這是標準的維護項目嗎？或者您正在實施剛在路易斯安那州工廠實施的流程改善嗎？與此相關的是，這個時機是否與國外低價生鐵的供應有關？與停電相關的預期營運損失是多少？謝謝。

Okay. Let me work through this.

好的。讓我解決這個問題。

No. This is, in fact, a planned preventative maintenance program shut down that is scheduled in advance, and must be done on a regular annual basis. Without getting into all the technical jargon, you need to shut down and clean out the piping in the [furnace]. It's done about once a year. It takes about a month. It's a normal process.

不。事實上，這是一項提前計劃的預防性維護計劃，並且必須每年定期進行。無需了解所有技術術語，您需要關閉並清理[熔爐]中的管道。大約每年進行一次。大約需要一個月的時間。這是一個正常的過程。

Now, we are, frankly, adding a piece of equipment in Trinidad that has nothing to do with the Louisiana situation. It's a polisher, what we call a briquette polisher, to improve the yields, as the product ships from Trinidad to the United States. But that's a side issue. There's no failure in Trinidad. No anticipated failure. It is strictly a planned maintenance outage. And in terms of what we expect it to hit us -- Jim, do you have that number?

現在，坦白說，我們正在特立尼達添加一項與路易斯安那州情況無關的設備。這是一個拋光機，我們稱之為煤球拋光機，用於提高產品從特立尼達運往美國時的產量。但這是一個次要問題。特立尼達沒有失敗。沒有預期的失敗。這嚴格來說是計畫內的維護中斷。至於我們預期它會為我們帶來什麼影響——吉姆，你有這個數字嗎？

I'm sorry. I was listening to somebody else.

對不起。我在聽別人說話。

The question that was asked was, can we have an estimate on what the cost of that project is?

有人提出的問題是，我們能否估算一下該專案的成本是多少？

We don't have the estimated losses during the outage, but it will probably be less than what we saw from Louisiana, obviously, for the quarter. It's going to be much less than that. But there will be some losses from the lost production of one month.

我們沒有停電期間的估計損失，但顯然，它可能會低於我們在路易斯安那州看到的本季損失。實際情況會比這個少很多。但一個月的生產損失也會帶來一些損失。

Okay. Thanks.

好的。謝謝。

To change gears for a minute, given your unique perch to observe the scrap market, to what degree have you seen scrap collection rates dry up in this lower-price environment? And how low would scrap prices have to fall before you'd expect availability to become a legitimate concern?

換個角度，鑑於您觀察廢鋼市場的獨特地位，您認為在這種較低價格的環境中廢鋼收集率枯竭到什麼程度？廢鋼價格必須下降到多低，您才會期望供應量成為合理的擔憂？

Well, although pricing is dropping, which does have a negative impact on collection to flow into the yards, bear in mind that it's also spring, so that's a time when people are out collecting, more so than in winter. Transportation is not a factor, like it is in winter, so they balance out. And although we've seen a small amount of decrease in flow into the yards, it's not been significant, and it's balanced by the two factors of lower pricing, offset by springtime.

好吧，雖然價格下降，這確實對流入院子的收藏品產生了負面影響，但請記住，現在也是春天，所以這是人們外出收藏的時間，比冬天更多。交通不是一個因素，就像冬天一樣，所以它們是平衡的。儘管我們看到進入船廠的流量略有減少，但並不顯著，並且被價格較低的兩個因素所平衡，並被春季所抵消。

And there's another issue just to build upon that, something that hasn't come up in all the discussion we've had today about scrap, and I'm a little surprised by it. But bear in mind that the other thing we look at to keep the supply of scrap up in the United States is the loads that we buy offshore. Particularly with the way the currency is today, we've been importing quite a bit of scrap from overseas.

在此基礎上還有另一個問題，這個問題在我們今天關於廢料的所有討論中都沒有出現，我對此感到有點驚訝。但請記住，我們要保持美國廢鋼供應的另一件事是我們從海外購買的貨物。特別是按照現今的貨幣方式，我們一直從海外進口大量廢品。

And where is the majority of that scrap, that incoming scrap, coming from?

大部分廢料、進入的廢料來自哪裡？

As a general statement, Europe.

作為一般性陳述，歐洲。

Okay. Great. Thanks for the color.

好的。偉大的。謝謝你的顏色。

David Lipschitz, CLSA.

大衛‧利普希茨，里昂證券。

So quick question -- you talked about pig iron being low, and expect eventually to bring it back up. How do you think the removal of export tax on pig iron out of China is going to impact that, though?

這麼簡單的問題——你談到生鐵含量低，並期望最終將其恢復。不過，您認為取消中國生鐵出口稅將如何影響這一點？

Well, if it's a removal of an export tax, it should go up. Right?

好吧，如果是取消出口稅，那麼它應該會上漲。正確的？

No. They'll be able to export more.

不。他們將能夠出口更多。

Yes. So I meant the volume will go up, the volume of their exports will go up. I'm not sure how much of that would actually make its way to the US as some of the markets. I would expect that there would be other markets that it would go to in Europe, in Asia, and even in India, would be more logical markets from a logistics perspective than here in the United States.

是的。所以我的意思是數量將會增加，他們的出口量將會增加。我不確定其中有多少實際上會進入美國的一些市場。我預計它會進入歐洲、亞洲甚至印度等其他市場，從物流的角度來看，這些市場比美國更合乎邏輯。

I'm just wondering whether that would continue to put pressure on pig iron prices?

我只是想知道這是否會繼續給生鐵價格帶來壓力？

Absolutely. It's Economics 101, supply and demand. Whenever you have a situation when more supply is coming into the marketplace, it puts pressure on pricing. But I would ask you to consider one factor, and that is, I can't attest to the quality of the pig iron coming out of China. That might be in question.

絕對地。這是經濟學101，供給與需求。每當出現更多供應進入市場的情況時，就會對定價造成壓力。但我想請你考慮一個因素，那就是我無法證明來自中國的生鐵的品質。這可能是有問題的。

Okay. And you don't think lower pig iron prices could potentially put more pressure on scrap as well? That people would start to take more pig iron and then scrap prices could go lower?

好的。您認為較低的生鐵價格不會給廢鋼帶來更大的壓力嗎？人們會開始購買更多的生鐵，然後廢鋼價格可能會更低？

Same reasoning. More supply from iron units into the market tends to bring pressure on all aspects of iron units: scrap, pig iron, DRI.

同樣的道理。更多的鐵廠供應進入市場往往會給鐵廠的各個方面帶來壓力：廢鋼、生鐵、直接還原鐵。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Tony Rizzuto, Cowen and Company.

托尼·裡祖托，考恩公司。

John, is there a rationale for the mills not raising prices yet? Service centers indicate they would be receptive. We see the NFCI inventories are still a bit higher, but they are moving in the right direction. Anecdotally we're hearing that end-users are living for the most part hand to mouth. I'm just wondering how you feel about that.

約翰，工廠還沒有提高價格有什麼理由嗎？服務中心表示他們願意接受。我們看到 NFCI 庫存仍然略高，但正在朝著正確的方向發展。有趣的是，我們聽說最終用戶大部分時間都過著糊口的生活。我只是想知道你對此有何感想。

Well, if there's a service center out there that wants some tons from us guaranteed at higher prices, send them our way. Okay?

好吧，如果那裡有一個服務中心想要以更高的價格從我們這裡得到一些噸，那就把他們寄給我們吧。好的？

Okay.

好的。

As a general statement, I understand your point. It's about an inflection. When are you at the bottom?

作為一般性陳述，我理解你的觀點。這是關於一個拐點。你什麼時候在谷底？

If you're asking me where I think we stand on that cycle, we said a couple of times during the course of the call that this is probably a transitional quarter. So we might see something this quarter. But I would ask you to remember that there's still a tremendous amount of imports that are in the pipeline that are on their way here to the United States. So that continues to put pressure on pricing.

如果你問我我認為我們在這個週期中處於什麼位置，我們在電話會議期間多次說過這可能是過渡季度。所以我們可能會在本季看到一些東西。但我請您記住，仍有大量進口商品正在運往美國的途中。因此，這繼續給定價帶來壓力。

But as I said, listen, we're not opposed to selling steel at a higher price. We like to do that. But we also have to take care of our customers, maintain our market share -- all of those factors that we spoke about earlier in the call.

但正如我所說，聽著，我們並不反對以更高的價格出售鋼材。我們喜歡這樣做。但我們也必須照顧我們的客戶，保持我們的市場份額——所有這些因素都是我們在電話會議早些時候談到的。

Okay. Fair enough. My second question is, some of the industrial companies are starting to talk about some signs of softening with regard to US demand. Are you seeing any signs of deceleration anywhere in your end markets, outside of energy?

好的。很公平。我的第二個問題是，一些工業公司開始談論美國需求疲軟的一些跡象。您是否在能源以外的終端市場中看到任何減速跡象？

I'd have to say no. In fact, I would say that our downstream products group, just the opposite is true. We see a significant improvement in backlog, order entry, and backlog pricing.

我不得不說不。其實我想說的是我們的下游產品群，恰恰相反。我們看到積壓、訂單輸入和積壓定價方面有了顯著改善。

And would that be the same, John, from a standpoint of geographic as well?

約翰，從地理的角度來看，情況也會一樣嗎？

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that.

我不確定我是否明白你的意思。

Just in terms of different parts of the country -- obviously you have pretty good exposure.

就該國的不同地區而言——顯然你有相當好的曝光度。

Is there any one part of the country in which we are seeing more of that? It's pretty well-balanced, no geographic -- I might say in Canada, we're seeing again, Paris rebar; we're seeing much more improvement because they were down so significantly, because of weather conditions in the first quarter. But other than that, pretty well-balanced.

在這個國家的任何一個地區，我們是否看到了更多這樣的情況？它非常平衡，不受地域限制——我可能會說，在加拿大，我們又看到了巴黎螺紋鋼；我們看到了更多的改善，因為第一季的天氣狀況導致它們大幅下降。但除此之外，相當平衡。

Okay. Thanks very much. I appreciate the color.

好的。非常感謝。我很欣賞它的顏色。

And this concludes the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the call back to Mr. Ferriola for any additional or closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我想將電話轉回給費裡奧拉先生，請他發表補充或結束語。

Let me conclude by saying thank you. Thank you to our shareholders. We appreciate your confidence and your support. Thank you to our customers. We appreciate your business.

最後我要說聲謝謝。感謝我們的股東。我們感謝您的信任與支持。感謝我們的客戶。我們感謝您的業務。

I want to say thank you to my Nucor teammates for creating value for our customers, generating attractive returns for our shareholders, and building a sustainable future for all of us. And most importantly, thank you all for doing it safely. Thanks for your interest in Nucor. Have a great day and a great weekend.

我想對我的紐柯團隊表示感謝，感謝他們為我們的客戶創造價值，為我們的股東創造有吸引力的回報，並為我們所有人建立可持續的未來。最重要的是，感謝大家安全地完成了這一切。感謝您對紐柯鋼鐵的興趣。祝你有美好的一天和愉快的周末。

This does conclude today's conference. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。