美國鋼鐵 (X) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to United States Steel Corporation's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions)

大家早上好，歡迎來到美國鋼鐵公司 2021 年第四季度和全年收益電話會議和網絡直播。 （操作員說明）

As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. I'll now hand the call over to Kevin Lewis, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate FP&A. Please go ahead.

提醒一下，今天的電話正在錄音中。我現在將電話轉給投資者關係和企業 FP&A 副總裁 Kevin Lewis。請繼續。

Thank you, Tommy. Good morning, and thank you for joining our fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings call. On behalf of U.S. Steel, I'd like to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2022.

謝謝你，湯米。早上好，感謝您參加我們的 2021 年第四季度和全年財報電話會議。我謹代表美國鋼鐵公司祝大家2022年快樂、健康。

Joining me on today's call is U.S. Steel President and CEO, Dave Burritt; Senior Vice President and CFO, Christie Breves; and Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, Rich Fruehauf. This morning, we posted slides to accompany today's prepared remarks. The link and slides for today's call can be found on the U.S. Steel Investor page under the Events and Presentations section.

和我一起參加今天電話會議的是美國鋼鐵公司總裁兼首席執行官 Dave Burritt； Christie Breves 高級副總裁兼首席財務官；高級副總裁兼首席戰略和可持續發展官 Rich Fruehauf。今天早上，我們張貼了幻燈片，以配合今天準備好的發言。今天電話會議的鏈接和幻燈片可以在美國鋼鐵投資者頁面的活動和演示部分下找到。

Before we start, I'll remind you that some information provided during this call may include forward-looking statements that are based on certain assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties as described in our SEC filings and actual future results may vary materially. Forward-looking statements in the press release that we issued yesterday, along with our remarks today, are made as of today, and we undertake no duty to update them as actual events unfold.

在我們開始之前，我會提醒您，本次電話會議期間提供的一些信息可能包括基於某些假設的前瞻性陳述，並受到我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中所述的許多風險和不確定性的影響，未來的實際結果可能會有所不同重大。我們昨天發布的新聞稿中的前瞻性陳述以及我們今天的評論都是截至今天做出的，我們不承擔隨著實際事件的發展而更新它們的責任。

I would now like to turn the conference call over to U.S. Steel President and CEO, Dave Burritt, who will begin on Slide 4.

我現在想將電話會議轉交給美國鋼鐵公司總裁兼首席執行官戴夫·伯里特，他將從幻燈片 4 開始。

Thank you, Kevin, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. 2021 was an exceptional year. It puts us on a path for another strong year in 2022. We delivered for our stakeholders in 2021, achieving record performance across nearly every part of our business, record earnings, record EBITDA, record EBITDA margin, record free cash flow and record safety, quality and reliability performance. Collectively, we are pursuing best here at U.S. Steel, and 2021 is a great example of our progress.

謝謝你，凱文，謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。 2021年是不平凡的一年。它使我們走上了 2022 年又一個強勁年份的道路。我們在 2021 年為利益相關者交付，幾乎在我們業務的每個部分都實現了創紀錄的業績、創紀錄的收益、創紀錄的 EBITDA、創紀錄的 EBITDA 利潤率、創紀錄的自由現金流和創紀錄的安全性，質量和可靠性性能。總的來說，我們在美國鋼鐵公司追求最好，2021 年是我們進步的一個很好的例子。

But this is just the beginning. Our progress will continue in 2022 and beyond. While the market is certainly looking for every reason to be negative about the prospects for this year, we remain overwhelmingly positive. As expected, the first quarter will be seasonally weak, including the normal impacts of our mining operations, but we believe this is just temporary. While markets continue to self-correct, the macro backdrop is favorable. Supply chain issues will ease, inflationary pressures will abate, saving rates remain high, cash remains on the sidelines and demand remains pent up for the markets we serve.

但這僅僅是開始。我們的進步將在 2022 年及以後繼續。雖然市場肯定在尋找各種理由對今年的前景持負面看法，但我們仍然非常樂觀。正如預期的那樣，第一季度將出現季節性疲軟，包括我們採礦業務的正常影響，但我們認為這只是暫時的。儘管市場繼續自我糾正，但宏觀背景是有利的。供應鏈問題將會緩解，通脹壓力將會減弱，儲蓄率仍然很高，現金仍然處於觀望狀態，我們所服務的市場的需求仍然受到抑制。

This is a recipe for success in steel, and we are optimistic that 2022 demand will accelerate. We have, after all, double through cycle prices. Clearly, a great place to be. We know about the risks, the Fed taking rates up too fast, unexpected changes to import restrictions, geopolitical risk, existential risks. The risks are many but we've seen it all before. We know where we're headed, and we know how to get there. When you are in pursuit, constant pursuit of best, you are never satisfied and challenges will always remain. We are taking the necessary steps to become less capital and carbon-intensive. We are executing on strategic investments to expand our capabilities, capabilities that will make us a better, not bigger steel company. And we are going to move faster, not slower in 2022 because as we like to say, we can't get to the future fast enough. This isn't your great, great grand pappy's U.S. steel anymore. U.S. Steel's future is incredibly bright.

這是鋼鐵行業成功的秘訣，我們樂觀地認為 2022 年的需求將會加速。畢竟，我們的周期價格翻了一番。顯然，這是一個很棒的地方。我們知道風險，美聯儲加息過快，進口限制的意外變化，地緣政治風險，生存風險。風險很多，但我們以前都見過。我們知道我們要去哪裡，我們知道如何到達那裡。當你在追求，不斷追求最好時，你永遠不會滿足，挑戰永遠存在。我們正在採取必要的措施來減少資本和碳密集度。我們正在執行戰略投資以擴大我們的能力，這將使我們成為一家更好而不是更大的鋼鐵公司。我們將在 2022 年更快地前進，而不是更慢，因為正如我們喜歡說的那樣，我們無法以足夠快的速度走向未來。這不再是你偉大的、偉大的爺爺的美國鋼鐵了。美國鋼鐵公司的未來非常光明。

The solution remains the same, execute our Best for All strategy by constructing a second mini mill greenfield facility and expanding finishing lines through our investments in an electrical steel line and coating line at Big River while returning capital to stockholders. When we execute, we expect to unlock $850 million of additional through-cycle EBITDA through state-of-the-art mini mill steelmaking and finishing line capabilities. And we will have further differentiated our sustainability advantages by customers as we continue to deliver against our responsible steel and 2050 decarbonization objectives while growing our offering of sustainable steel solutions, including verdeX.

解決方案保持不變，執行我們的 Best for All 戰略，建造第二個小型工廠新建設施，並通過我們在 Big River 的電工鋼生產線和塗層生產線的投資擴大精加工生產線，同時將資金返還給股東。當我們執行時，我們預計通過最先進的小型鋼廠煉鋼和精整線能力釋放 8.5 億美元的額外全週期 EBITDA。隨著我們繼續實現負責任的鋼鐵和 2050 年脫碳目標，同時增加包括 verdeX 在內的可持續鋼鐵解決方案的供應，我們將進一步區分客戶的可持續發展優勢。

We know you know this. Sounds good, right? We think so. But we clearly know this is a show-me story. So we will keep our heads down, remain focused and disciplined and we will continue our progress toward our Best for All path forward. Because after all, we have to keep showing our stakeholders what Best for All means. It's about continuing to reimagine how steel gets made more sustainably like efforts earned by Big River facility Daimler's 2021 Sustainability recognition award.

我們知道你知道這一點。聽起來不錯，對吧？我們是這樣認為的。但我們清楚地知道這是一個自我介紹的故事。因此，我們將保持低調，保持專注和自律，我們將繼續朝著我們的“最適合所有人”的道路前進。因為畢竟，我們必須不斷向我們的利益相關者展示 Best for All 的含義。這是關於繼續重新構想鋼鐵如何更可持續地製造，就像大河工廠戴姆勒 2021 年可持續發展表彰獎所獲得的努力一樣。

And it also means continuing to innovate to accelerate and further our Best for All progress. Just this week, as an example, we announced a strategic investment and partnership in Carnegie foundry, a leading robotics and artificial intelligence studio in Pittsburgh, supported by Carnegie Mellon University. We look forward to beginning our partnership together as we work to accelerate and scale industrial automation to find new ways to serve our customers. Our customers are seeing and embracing the transformation that's taking place at U.S. Steel, and we are pleased to be a like-minded regional partner for them. We look forward to deepening our partnerships to create unique solutions that build on our long-term relationships, industry-leading innovation and constantly increasing focus on products our competitors haven't imagined.

這也意味著繼續創新以加速和推進我們的 Best for All 進展。就在本週，例如，我們宣佈在卡內基梅隆大學的支持下，對匹茲堡領先的機器人和人工智能工作室 Carnegie foundry 進行戰略投資和合作。在我們努力加速和擴展工業自動化以尋找新的方式為我們的客戶服務時，我們期待著開始我們的合作夥伴關係。我們的客戶正在看到並接受美國鋼鐵公司正在發生的轉型，我們很高興成為他們志同道合的區域合作夥伴。我們期待深化我們的合作夥伴關係，以創造獨特的解決方案，建立在我們的長期合作關係、行業領先的創新和不斷增加對競爭對手沒有想像到的產品的關注之上。

For our employees and communities, Best for All means investments in their future in our recent announcement that we have selected Osceola, Arkansas as a home for our second mini mill, means jobs. It means a commitment to that community. It means a more secure future for the region, and it means a more responsive U.S. steel to meet the needs of our customers. Osceola is our newest home and we continue to invest in regions that have supported U.S. Steel throughout our history, integrated mills and mini mills, our Best of Both enabling our Best for All future. And for investors, Best for All means increasing our future earnings power while returning capital to stockholders. We don't believe the market is rewarding us yet for continued strength in 2022, improved through-cycle earnings or for the long-term value, our Best for All strategy. So we will continue to buy back our own stock and are pleased to announce an incremental $500 million authorization. We are generating excess cash, and we have an obligation to reward stockholders.

對我們的員工和社區而言，Best for All 意味著在我們最近宣布選擇阿肯色州奧西奧拉作為我們第二家小型工廠的所在地時對他們的未來進行投資，這意味著工作。這意味著對該社區的承諾。這意味著該地區有一個更安全的未來，也意味著美國鋼鐵可以更迅速地滿足我們客戶的需求。 Osceola 是我們最新的家，我們將繼續投資於在我們的歷史上支持美國鋼鐵公司的地區、綜合鋼廠和小型鋼廠，我們的“兩者兼備”實現了我們的最佳未來。而對於投資者而言，Best for All 意味著增加我們未來的盈利能力，同時將資本返還給股東。我們認為，市場尚未因 2022 年的持續強勁、改善的全週期收益或長期價值（我們的 Best for All 戰略）而獎勵我們。因此，我們將繼續回購我們自己的股票，並很高興地宣布增加 5 億美元的授權。我們正在產生多餘的現金，我們有義務獎勵股東。

As I said before, this isn't our great, great grand pappy's with U.S. Steel, and we look forward to continuing to show all our stakeholders the power of Best for All.

正如我之前所說，這不是我們與 U.S. Steel 的偉大、偉大的偉大爸爸，我們期待繼續向我們所有的利益相關者展示 Best for All 的力量。

Let's get into the agenda for today's call on Slide 5. On this morning's call, we are going to cover 3 topics before heading into Q&A. First, we will spend some time recapping our 2021 performance and strategic milestones. Second, we will provide some additional context on why we are confident. And third, we will spend some time providing definition on our capital allocation framework and key priorities, priorities aligned with showing our stakeholders what Best for All means for them.

讓我們進入今天關於幻燈片 5 的電話會議的議程。在今天上午的電話會議中，我們將在進入問答環節之前討論 3 個主題。首先，我們將花一些時間回顧我們 2021 年的業績和戰略里程碑。其次，我們將提供一些關於我們為什麼有信心的額外背景。第三，我們將花一些時間來定義我們的資本分配框架和關鍵優先事項，這些優先事項與向我們的利益相關者展示 Best for All 對他們意味著什麼一致。

2021's record performance has fundamentally changed our business. As you see on Slide 6, our record performance in safety and environmental, in customer and operational excellence and in our financial performance, is a direct result of executing our strategy over the past several years. Take Safety and Environmental as an example. Safety is and will always be first at U.S. Steel and is at the core of our steel principles. We delivered our best safety and environmental performance on record and continue our progress towards our ambitious 2030 and 2050 carbon reduction goals.

2021 年創紀錄的業績從根本上改變了我們的業務。正如您在幻燈片 6 中看到的那樣，我們在安全和環境、客戶和卓越運營以及財務業績方面的創紀錄表現是過去幾年執行我們戰略的直接結果。以安全環保為例。安全始終是美國鋼鐵公司的首要任務，也是我們鋼鐵原則的核心。我們提供了有史以來最好的安全和環境績效，並繼續朝著我們雄心勃勃的 2030 年和 2050 年碳減排目標邁進。

We also demonstrated exceptional quality and reliability performance when it mattered most to deliver for our customers in 2021. We also delivered record financial performance in 2021. We acted boldly in 2020 to announce the acquisition of the remaining stake in Big River Steel, just as the market was gaining momentum. We moved quickly and our well-timed acquisition allowed us to capture the remarkable earnings power of Big River Steel in 2021, including nearly $1.4 billion of EBITDA and 39% EBITDA margin.

在 2021 年為客戶提供最重要的服務時，我們還展示了卓越的質量和可靠性表現。我們還在 2021 年實現了創紀錄的財務業績。我們在 2020 年大膽採取行動，宣布收購 Big River Steel 的剩餘股份，就像市場正在獲得動力。我們行動迅速，我們適時的收購使我們能夠在 2021 年捕捉到 Big River Steel 非凡的盈利能力，包括近 14 億美元的 EBITDA 和 39% 的 EBITDA 利潤率。

Our flat roll in U.S. Steel Europe segments also delivered record financial performance. Our integrated operations continue to run well to drive what is expected to be another impressive year in 2022.

我們在美國鋼鐵歐洲部門的平板軋機也實現了創紀錄的財務業績。我們的綜合業務繼續運行良好，預計 2022 年將是另一個令人印象深刻的一年。

Before we pivot to 2022, let me turn it over to Christie to provide some more context on 2021's record financial performance. Christie?

在我們轉向 2022 年之前，讓我把它交給科視Christie，以提供有關 2021 年創紀錄財務業績的更多背景信息。克里斯蒂？

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin on Slide 7. As Dave mentioned, 2021 was a year of record financial performance. We ended the year with adjusted EBITDA of approximately $5.6 billion and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 28%. This translated into record free cash flow generation of approximately $3.2 billion, including over $1 billion in the fourth quarter alone.

謝謝你，戴夫，大家早上好。我將從幻燈片 7 開始。正如戴夫所說，2021 年是創紀錄的財務業績的一年。年末調整後 EBITDA 約為 56 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 28%。這轉化為創紀錄的約 32 億美元的自由現金流，其中僅第四季度就超過 10 億美元。

We expect to generate meaningful levels of free cash flow in 2022 as well. Adjusted EPS in the quarter was $3.64 per share and was significantly impacted by a noncash year-end true-up to our tax valuation allowance. Excluding this impact, we outperformed expectations on EPS just like we did on revenue and adjusted EBITDA.

我們預計在 2022 年也將產生有意義的自由現金流水平。本季度調整後的每股收益為 3.64 美元，並受到非現金年終對我們的稅收估值津貼的調整的顯著影響。排除這種影響，我們的每股收益超出預期，就像我們對收入和調整後的 EBITDA 所做的那樣。

Our strong performance in 2021 allowed us to transform our balance sheet by repaying over $3 billion in debt in the year and ending the year with 0.7x leverage.

我們在 2021 年的強勁表現使我們能夠通過在當年償還超過 30 億美元的債務並以 0.7 倍槓桿率結束這一年來改變我們的資產負債表。

This type of financial performance allows us to enter 2022 from a position of strength. The remaining debt on the balance sheet is manageable with over 80% due until 2029 and beyond. Our pension and OPEB plans are overfunded. We have no mandatory cash contributions for the foreseeable future and have already derisked a component of the plan to further strengthen our balance sheet. And we're also ending the year with nearly $5 billion of liquidity, including over $2.5 billion of cash.

這種類型的財務表現使我們能夠從強勢地位進入 2022 年。資產負債表上的剩餘債務是可控的，超過 80% 的債務將在 2029 年及以後到期。我們的養老金和 OPEB 計劃資金過剩。在可預見的未來，我們沒有強制性的現金捐款，並且已經取消了進一步加強我們資產負債表的計劃的一部分。我們在今年年底還擁有近 50 億美元的流動性，其中包括超過 25 億美元的現金。

Before I hand it back to Dave to expand on our 2022 opportunities, I'll spend a few minutes on our segment performance on Slide 8.

在我將其交還給 Dave 以擴展我們 2022 年的機會之前，我將花幾分鐘時間了解我們在幻燈片 8 上的細分市場表現。

In our Flat-Rolled segment, we delivered record EBITDA and EBITDA margin in 2021 of over $3.1 billion and 25%, respectively. In the fourth quarter alone, we generated over $1 billion of EBITDA and an EBITDA margin of 30%.

在我們的扁平材部門，我們在 2021 年實現了創紀錄的 EBITDA 和 EBITDA 利潤率，分別超過 31 億美元和 25%。僅在第四季度，我們就產生了超過 10 億美元的 EBITDA 和 30% 的 EBITDA 利潤率。

It was a similar scenario for our Mini Mill segment. 2021 delivered record EBITDA and EBITDA margin of nearly $1.4 billion and 39%, respectively. This included $406 million of EBITDA in the fourth quarter and an industry-leading 41% EBITDA margin.

我們的 Mini Mill 部門也出現了類似的情況。 2021 年的 EBITDA 和 EBITDA 利潤率分別達到創紀錄的近 14 億美元和 39%。其中包括第四季度 4.06 億美元的 EBITDA 和行業領先的 41% EBITDA 利潤率。

The fourth quarter marked the second consecutive quarter of $400 million plus of EBITDA and over 40% EBITDA margins. Our European operations also posted record EBITDA and EBITDA margin in 2021. EBITDA was nearly $1.1 billion for the year or 25% EBITDA margin.

第四季度是連續第二個季度超過 4 億美元的 EBITDA 和超過 40% 的 EBITDA 利潤率。我們的歐洲業務在 2021 年也錄得創紀錄的 EBITDA 和 EBITDA 利潤率。全年 EBITDA 接近 11 億美元，EBITDA 利潤率為 25%。

Lastly, our Tubular segment reported nearly $50 million of EBITDA in 2021, including $42 million in the fourth quarter alone. We are leveraging new trade actions where we can and continue to expect the Tubular segment to be a more meaningful contributor to our financial performance in 2022.

最後，我們的 Tubular 部門在 2021 年報告了近 5000 萬美元的 EBITDA，其中僅第四季度就有 4200 萬美元。我們正在盡可能地利用新的貿易行動，並繼續期望管狀部門對我們 2022 年的財務業績做出更有意義的貢獻。

Dave, I'll turn it back to you to provide more context on 2022 and our balanced and disciplined approach to capital allocation.

戴夫，我會把它轉回給你，為你提供更多關於 2022 年的背景信息以及我們平衡和有紀律的資本配置方法。

Thanks, Christie. We remain bullish for 2022, and Slide 9 highlights just a few items that support our point of view. At its core, consumer demand remains very good. As I mentioned in my earlier (technical difficulty), there is a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines with saving rates at elevated levels, but supply chain issues have prevented the full potential of consumer demand to shine through.

謝謝，克里斯蒂。我們仍然看好 2022 年，幻燈片 9 僅突出顯示了支持我們觀點的幾個項目。從本質上講，消費者需求仍然非常好。正如我在前面提到的（技術難度），有大量現金處於觀望狀態，儲蓄率處於較高水平，但供應鏈問題阻礙了消費者需求的全部潛力發揮作用。

In auto, pent-up demand continues into 2022 and easing supply chain pressures are driving increased auto production expectations. Auto builds in North America are expected to increase by 2 million units in 2022 and accelerate as the year progresses. This is a significant improvement for 2021 with room to run as broad supply chain issues are resolved.

在汽車領域，被壓抑的需求將持續到 2022 年，而供應鏈壓力的緩解正在推動汽車產量預期的提高。預計 2022 年北美的汽車產量將增加 200 萬輛，並隨著時間的推移而加速。這是 2021 年的一項重大改進，隨著廣泛的供應鏈問題得到解決，還有很大的發展空間。

In appliances, production in 2022 is expected to be on pace with last year's record output. And these expectations are materializing in our order book.

在電器方面，預計 2022 年的產量將與去年的創紀錄產量保持同步。這些期望正在我們的訂單中實現。

In the U.S., we're seeing the auto and appliance original equipment manufacturers or OEMs order book increased each month in the first quarter. Many of these OEM orders carry new, higher-fixed contract prices to begin the year.

在美國，我們看到第一季度汽車和家電原始設備製造商或 OEM 的訂單量每個月都在增加。許多這些 OEM 訂單在年初都有新的、更高的固定合同價格。

Also, the Tin Packaging business is expected to remain strong in 2022.This is a market we are uniquely positioned to serve and where pricing was also negotiated significantly higher for 2022. Make no mistake, the success we had on fixed-price contracts has generated significant year-over-year uplift on our fixed book of business.

此外，錫包裝業務預計將在 2022 年保持強勁勢頭。這是我們服務的獨特市場，並且在 2022 年的定價也大大提高。毫無疑問，我們在固定價格合同方面取得的成功已經產生我們的固定業務賬簿同比顯著提升。

On steel market pricing, recent price movement still positions spot indices at 2x historical averages. Demand is in line with normal seasonality and auto and appliance activity keeps us bullish for (technical difficulty) consumer demand.

在鋼鐵市場定價方面，近期價格走勢仍使現貨指數處於歷史平均水平的 2 倍。需求符合正常的季節性，汽車和家電活動使我們看好（技術難度）消費者需求。

Meanwhile, the import arbitrage is starting to fade and lead times are normalizing, which we believe are precursors to increased spot market activity and positive price momentum.

同時，進口套利開始消退，交貨時間正在正常化，我們認為這是現貨市場活動增加和價格上漲動能增加的先兆。

In Europe, pricing has already stabilized close to $1,000 per ton and our order book has been steady. We expect order entries to accelerate into the seasonally stronger second quarter and are on pace for another strong year from our European operations.

在歐洲，價格已經穩定在每噸 1,000 美元附近，我們的訂單也很穩定。我們預計訂單進入將加速進入季節性強勁的第二季度，並且我們的歐洲業務將迎來又一個強勁的一年。

In Tubular, rig counts have increased, supported by higher oil and natural gas prices. This is driving increased demand and higher pricing for our OCTG products. Demand is expected to accelerate in 2022 and our EAF and proprietary connections will continue to support higher earnings in 2022. We are enhancing the customer experience and are seeing tangible results for 2022. The customer is core to everything we do. We recently partnered with Norfolk Southern and Greenbrier to develop a railcar that utilizes U.S. steel proprietary grades, resulting in a stronger, lighter and more capable railcar. Through collaboration with U.S. Steel, Norfolk Southern and Greenbrier are able to extend the useful life, improve their sustainability and increase the efficiency of each gondola railcar. This type of product innovation create sustainable solutions is just the latest example. We are focused on continuing these mutually beneficial partnerships in 2022.

在 Tubular，在石油和天然氣價格上漲的支持下，鑽機數量有所增加。這推動了我們 OCTG 產品的需求增加和價格上漲。預計 2022 年需求將加速增長，我們的 EAF 和專有連接將繼續支持 2022 年更高的收益。我們正在提升客戶體驗，並在 2022 年看到實實在在的成果。客戶是我們所做一切的核心。我們最近與 Norfolk Southern 和 Greenbrier 合作開發了一種使用美國專有鋼種的軌道車，從而使軌道車更堅固、更輕、功能更強大。通過與美國鋼鐵公司的合作，Norfolk Southern 和 Greenbrier 能夠延長使用壽命、提高可持續性並提高每輛纜車軌道車的效率。這種類型的產品創新創造可持續的解決方案只是最新的例子。我們專注於在 2022 年繼續這些互利的伙伴關係。

Our transformed balance sheet is another reason we're excited for 2022. Today's strong balance sheet fully funds the strategic projects we've already discussed, creates a clear path to strategy execution and is a foundation for our balanced and disciplined approach to capital allocation, including direct returns to stockholders.

我們轉型的資產負債表是我們對 2022 年感到興奮的另一個原因。今天強大的資產負債表為我們已經討論過的戰略項目提供了充分的資金，為戰略執行創造了一條清晰的道路，並且是我們平衡和嚴格的資本配置方法的基礎，包括對股東的直接回報。

Yesterday, in our earnings press release, we announced a new $500 million stock buyback program. This is in addition to our existing $300 million authorization announced in October 2021, of which approximately $200 million has been repurchased to date under the existing authorization. We will continue to repurchase our own stock, especially when it is trading at what we believe is a significant discount.

昨天，在我們的收益新聞稿中，我們宣布了一項新的 5 億美元股票回購計劃。這是我們在 2021 年 10 月宣布的現有 3 億美元授權的補充，其中約 2 億美元迄今已根據現有授權回購。我們將繼續回購我們自己的股票，尤其是當它以我們認為有很大折扣的價格交易時。

Before I detail our enhanced capital allocation priorities, Christie will provide an outlook on our first quarter performance.

在我詳細介紹我們增強的資本配置優先事項之前，科視Christie 將提供我們第一季度業績的展望。

Thanks, Dave. We are on pace to deliver another strong performance in the first quarter. Slide 10 outlines some key considerations for first quarter performance. Our Flat-Rolled segment is expected to report increased shipments and higher selling prices from reset annual contracts versus the fourth quarter. As you know, the seasonality of mining will impact the first quarter, along with higher coal and natural gas costs, which will more than offset the commercial steel tailwinds.

謝謝，戴夫。我們有望在第一季度再次取得強勁表現。幻燈片 10 概述了第一季度業績的一些關鍵考慮因素。與第四季度相比，我們的扁平材部門預計將報告來自重置年度合同的出貨量增加和銷售價格上漲。如您所知，採礦的季節性將影響第一季度，同時煤炭和天然氣成本上升，這將抵消商業鋼鐵的順風。

Recall, each year, the locks on the Great Lakes close from mid-January through the end of March. This not only limits our ability to ship pellets to our own operations but also to ship to third-party customers.

回想一下，每年 1 月中旬到 3 月底，五大湖的閘門都會關閉。這不僅限制了我們將顆粒運送到我們自己的業務的能力，而且還限制了我們運送給第三方客戶的能力。

Given our increasing presence as a merchant seller of iron ore, the seasonal impacts of our mining operations have increased from historical levels.

鑑於我們作為鐵礦石賣家的影響力不斷增加，我們採礦業務的季節性影響已從歷史水平增加。

In our Mini Mill segment, the shifting hot-rolled coil pricing dynamic in the U.S. will be more fully reflected in our average selling price. We expect temporarily lower volumes due to more hot-rolled coil product mix than our Flat-Rolled segment.

在我們的小型軋機部門，美國不斷變化的熱軋卷定價動態將更充分地反映在我們的平均售價中。由於熱軋卷材產品組合比我們的平板軋材部門更多，我們預計銷量會暫時下降。

Last year, U.S. imports of sheet steel increased over 70% to a 6-year high. This quarter, we continued to monitor surges of low-priced imports and their impact on the market and on our operations.

去年，美國的鋼板進口量增長了 70% 以上，達到 6 年來的最高水平。本季度，我們繼續監測低價進口的激增及其對市場和我們運營的影響。

In Europe, steel prices and volumes are expected to be similar to the fourth quarter, while raw material and energy costs will be likely headwinds. In Tubular, higher prices are increasingly being reflected in our performance as well as lower scrap costs for our Fairfield EAF. As a result, we expect Tubular's EBITDA to improve again in the first quarter.

在歐洲，鋼鐵價格和銷量預計將與第四季度相似，而原材料和能源成本可能會受到不利影響。在 Tubular 中，價格上漲越來越多地反映在我們的業績中，以及 Fairfield EAF 的廢鋼成本降低。因此，我們預計 Tubular 的 EBITDA 將在第一季度再次改善。

Dave, back to you.

戴夫，回到你身邊。

Thanks, Christie. Over the past year, we've talked a lot about our strategy and the continued progress towards our Best for All future. With each passing quarter, we have transformed the balance sheet, announced an advanced critical capability and sustainability-related strategic projects to improve our through-cycle earnings power and reduce our capital and carbon intensity and enhance our direct returns to stockholders.

謝謝，克里斯蒂。在過去的一年裡，我們談了很多關於我們的戰略以及朝著我們的最佳未來發展的持續進展。隨著每個季度的過去，我們都改變了資產負債表，宣布了先進的關鍵能力和與可持續發展相關的戰略項目，以提高我們的全週期盈利能力，降低我們的資本和碳強度，並提高我們對股東的直接回報。

Today, I want to reinforce some important messages and provide more definition around our business priorities and capital allocation framework on Slide 11. A framework that we believe will create long-term stockholder value.

今天，我想在幻燈片 11 上強調一些重要信息，並圍繞我們的業務優先事項和資本分配框架提供更多定義。我們認為該框架將創造長期股東價值。

As we've discussed this morning, achieving our strategic ambition requires clear priorities and disciplined execution, and the framework we have developed provides the principles we will use over the coming years to (technical difficulty) our strategy. The major theme should be familiar to you. We will maintain a strong balance sheet. We will invest in capabilities, not to become bigger, but to become better, and we will return capital to stockholders as the business continues to perform exceptionally well.

正如我們今天上午所討論的，實現我們的戰略雄心需要明確的優先事項和嚴格的執行，我們開發的框架提供了我們將在未來幾年用於（技術難度）我們的戰略的原則。您應該熟悉主要主題。我們將保持強勁的資產負債表。我們將投資於能力，不是為了變得更大，而是為了變得更好，並且隨著業務繼續表現出色，我們將向股東返還資本。

Let's discuss each component of our capital allocation framework in more detail. First, we consider a strong balance sheet to be foundational to the success of our strategy. We are pleased with the significant progress we've made to reduce our debt, extend our maturity profile, lower our debt service costs and improve our credit ratings. As we continue to execute our strategy, we are targeting a through-cycle total debt-to-EBITDA leverage metric of 3 to 3.5x.

讓我們更詳細地討論我們的資本配置框架的每個組成部分。首先，我們認為強大的資產負債表是我們戰略成功的基礎。我們對在減少債務、延長期限、降低償債成本和提高信用評級方面取得的重大進展感到高興。隨著我們繼續執行我們的戰略，我們的目標是整個週期的總債務與 EBITDA 的槓桿率指標為 3 到 3.5 倍。

Based on the progress we've already made to delever the balance sheet and the improved through-cycle earnings power of our integrated and Mini Mill business model, we are confident that our mid-cycle performance capability more than support this target. We will continue to evaluate more modest near-term opportunities to repay debt and optimize our capital structure.

基於我們在去槓桿化資產負債表方面已經取得的進展，以及我們綜合和小型磨坊業務模式的整個週期盈利能力的提高，我們相信我們的中期業績能力超過了支持這一目標的能力。我們將繼續評估更適度的近期機會來償還債務和優化我們的資本結構。

Second, we believe the highest value-added use of our cash is to fund the announced investments that will transform our earnings profile and increase the consistency of our free cash flow. U.S. Steel is executing from a position of strength, a position that we've earned through operational and commercial excellence and record-setting EBITDA and free cash flow performance. It is a position that is tremendously valuable and is a catalyst to advancing our strategy, which our customers demand from us.

其次，我們認為我們現金的最高增值用途是為宣布的投資提供資金，這將改變我們的收益狀況並提高我們自由現金流的一致性。 U.S. Steel 的執行力很強，我們通過卓越的運營和商業以及創紀錄的 EBITDA 和自由現金流表現贏得了這一地位。這是一個非常有價值的職位，是推進我們客戶對我們要求的戰略的催化劑。

As we accelerate our transition towards Best for All, we will protect the successful execution of Mini Mill #2 and the strategic investments we are making in non-grain-oriented electrical steel and galvanizing capability at Big River Steel by maintaining a cash position no less than our next 12-month CapEx. This will ensure that our strategic investments will be fully funded by existing cash and free cash flow while preserving our ability to maintain a balanced and disciplined capital allocation strategy.

隨著我們加快向 Best for All 的過渡，我們將通過保持現金頭寸來保護 Mini Mill #2 的成功執行以及我們在 Big River Steel 對非取向電工鋼和鍍鋅能力進行的戰略投資比我們下一個 12 個月的資本支出。這將確保我們的戰略投資將完全由現有現金和自由現金流提供資金，同時保持我們保持平衡和有紀律的資本分配戰略的能力。

Third, as you would expect, we will continue to evaluate investment opportunities to further our Best for All strategic transition. As we seek to lower the sustaining capital requirements of the business, we are sharpening our focus on the types of projects we may pursue in the future. For us, Best for All starts with enhancing our focus on expanding our competitive advantages: low-cost iron ore, mini mill steelmaking and best-in-class finishing capabilities and by returning and by delivering returns of at least 15%. There are no additional capability investments to announce at this time as our focus is on completing the announced projects ahead of schedule and under budget, something our Big River Steel team has demonstrated they are highly capable of doing.

第三，如您所料，我們將繼續評估投資機會，以推進我們的 Best for All 戰略轉型。隨著我們尋求降低業務的持續資本要求，我們正在加強對未來可能開展的項目類型的關注。對我們而言，Best for All 始於加強我們對擴大競爭優勢的關注：低成本鐵礦石、小型鋼廠煉鋼和一流的精加工能力，並通過回報和提供至少 15% 的回報。目前沒有額外的能力投資要宣布，因為我們的重點是提前完成已宣布的項目並在預算內完成，我們的大河鋼鐵團隊已經證明他們有能力做到這一點。

Lastly, an important component of our capital allocation framework is stockholder distributions. Last quarter, we were pleased to announce our restored $0.05 per share quarterly dividend, and our first priority for direct returns is to maintain that dividend policy. We plan to supplement our commitment to a quarterly dividend by returning excess cash through measured and opportunistic stock buybacks. This allows for direct participation in capital returns for our investors as we successfully deliver our strategy.

最後，我們資本分配框架的一個重要組成部分是股東分配。上個季度，我們很高興地宣布恢復每股 0.05 美元的季度股息，而我們直接回報的首要任務是維持該股息政策。我們計劃通過有節制和機會性的股票回購返還多餘的現金，以補充我們對季度股息的承諾。當我們成功實施我們的戰略時，這允許我們的投資者直接參與資本回報。

As mentioned earlier, I am pleased to say that our Board has authorized a new and incremental repurchase program of $500 million. Our Best for All future has never been clearer, and we believe the framework described today provides even more definition on how we will advance our disciplined approach to creating stockholder value. We believe our Best for All strategy and capital allocation framework delivers a compelling investor proposition, a proposition that balances financial strength, investments that sustainably advance our competitive advantages and long-term through-cycle value creation by increasing our earnings power, improving our free cash flow and distributing capital to stockholders. I'm pretty pumped up about where we are today and what our future holds.

如前所述，我很高興地說，我們的董事會已批准一項新的增量回購計劃，金額為 5 億美元。我們最好的未來從未如此清晰，我們相信今天描述的框架為我們將如何推進我們創造股東價值的嚴謹方法提供了更多定義。我們相信我們的 Best for All 戰略和資本分配框架提供了一個引人注目的投資者主張，一個平衡財務實力的主張，通過增加我們的盈利能力、提高我們的自由現金來可持續地提升我們的競爭優勢和長期的全週期價值創造的投資流動和分配資本給股東。我對我們今天所處的位置以及我們的未來感到非常興奮。

With that, let's get to Q&A.

有了這個，讓我們進入問答環節。

Thank you, Dave. (Operator Instructions) Operator, can you please queue the line for questions.

謝謝你，戴夫。 （操作員說明）操作員，請您排隊等候提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And we'll get our first question on the line from David Gagliano, BMO Capital Markets.

我們將從 BMO 資本市場的 David Gagliano 那裡得到第一個問題。

Okay. Great. I did want to just clarify a little bit on the near-term commentary. I think I missed some of the commentary. So can you expand a little bit on the Flat-Rolled prices up, volumes up? And then also on the mini mill side, because I was a little confused, the price is up, volumes up in Flat-Rolled, but offset, I think, by iron ore. So if you could just talk a little more about that. And then again, on the mini mill side, can you talk about a little more detail on why you expect things to roll a little bit harder in that business.

好的。偉大的。我確實想稍微澄清一下近期的評論。我想我錯過了一些評論。那麼，您能否在扁平軋材價格上漲、銷量增加的情況下擴大一點？然後在小型軋機方面，因為我有點困惑，價格上漲了，平板軋材的數量增加了，但我認為被鐵礦石抵消了。所以，如果你能多談一點。再說一次，在小型工廠方面，您能否詳細談談為什麼您希望該業務的發展會更加艱難。

There's a lot in that, David. I think what you're asking for. Near-term first quarter commentary where we are and where we're headed in the near term because there has been some noise. Am I right in assuming that's where you're interested in because I can tell you, we remain bullish on 2022, and the strong demand continues. So we still feel the fundamentals of a super cycle, they remain intact, and we don't believe we're overreacting to anything in the short term. So I think you got a good question here. But let me just kind of expand on that a bit because I think it's important to provide some context before getting into some of the specifics.

裡面有很多東西，大衛。我想你在問什麼。近期第一季度評論我們在哪里以及我們在短期內的發展方向，因為有一些噪音。我是否正確地假設這是您感興趣的地方，因為我可以告訴您，我們仍然看好 2022 年，並且強勁的需求仍在繼續。所以我們仍然感受到超級週期的基本面，它們保持完好，我們不相信我們在短期內對任何事情反應過度。所以我認為你有一個很好的問題。但是讓我稍微擴展一下，因為我認為在進入一些細節之前提供一些背景很重要。

The steel industry is on quite a run. So it's easy, I think, to forget just how far we've come. Q3 and Q4 2021 represented all-time best performance for the business. we're talking about, what is it, $4 billion of EBITDA generated in the second half of last year. So frankly, we do expect to be a modest step-down from Q4. That's for sure. But this shouldn't surprise anyone. We fully expect Q1 2022 to be our third highest EBITDA quarter in the past decade plus and represent another quarter, frankly of significant EBITDA and free cash flow generation.

鋼鐵行業運行良好。因此，我認為很容易忘記我們已經走了多遠。 2021 年第三季度和第四季度代表了該業務的歷史最佳表現。我們正在談論的是，去年下半年產生的 40 億美元 EBITDA 是什麼。坦率地說，我們確實希望從第四季度開始適度下降。這是肯定的。但這不應該讓任何人感到驚訝。我們完全預計 2022 年第一季度將成為我們在過去十年中第三高的 EBITDA 季度，並且代表另一個季度，坦率地說，EBITDA 和自由現金流產生顯著。

But I think a couple of things that everybody needs to remember related to U.S. Steel that maybe folks forget about Q1. There are seasonal impacts within our mining operations, and they're significant and have become increasingly more material as our presence as a merchant pellet supplier has increased. Historically, we've said seasonal mining headwinds ranged from something like $50 million to $100 million, but we could see $150 million in the first quarter of this year.

但我認為每個人都需要記住一些與美國鋼鐵有關的事情，也許人們會忘記第一季度。我們的採礦業務存在季節性影響，隨著我們作為商業顆粒供應商的存在增加，這些影響非常重要並且變得越來越重要。從歷史上看，我們曾說過季節性採礦逆風從 5000 萬美元到 1 億美元不等，但今年第一季度我們可能會看到 1.5 億美元。

And this headwind will reverse in subsequent quarters and be more than offset through the firm and contract volumes in place for 2022. But there's obviously these puts and takes with North American flat roll. But once you adjust for the impacts of our mining operations, we expect the rest of the segment to perform similarly to the fourth quarter.

而這種逆風將在隨後的幾個季度逆轉，並通過 2022 年的固定和合同量被抵消。但顯然北美平軋存在這些看跌期權。但是，一旦您對我們採礦業務的影響進行調整，我們預計該細分市場的其餘部分的表現將與第四季度相似。

Now you mentioned the Mini Mill segment. In our Mini Mill segment, we are navigating these seasonal impacts on demand as nimbly as we can and are optimizing our order book and operations to satisfy the demand. And we're seeing and doing that in the most profitable way possible. But let's not forget. Big River is a segment within our business with the most hot-rolled coil exposure, which has been a huge benefit for the business over the past year. And while they are more heavily impacted in the near term in this quarter, we expect them to be well positioned to participate in what we see as an inevitable snapback. And it's also worth noting that investment (technical difficulty) as we speak to further enhance their value-added mix with the NGO line and the incremental galvanizing capability.

現在你提到了 Mini Mill 細分市場。在我們的小型磨坊部門，我們正在盡可能靈活地應對這些季節性對需求的影響，並正在優化我們的訂單和運營以滿足需求。我們正在以最有利可圖的方式看到並做到這一點。但我們不要忘記。 Big River 是我們業務中熱軋卷暴露最多的一個部門，這在過去一年中為該業務帶來了巨大的利益。儘管它們在本季度的短期內受到的影響更大，但我們預計它們將處於有利地位，可以參與我們認為不可避免的反彈。同樣值得注意的是，我們所說的投資（技術難度）是為了進一步增強他們與 NGO 線的增值組合和增量激勵能力。

So the EBITDA contribution for Big River will be down, no doubt quarter-over-quarter, but this is an extremely cost-effective and efficient operation, and we don't expect a material change in their margin profile in Q1.

因此，Big River 的 EBITDA 貢獻將下降，毫無疑問，環比下降，但這是一項極具成本效益和效率的運營，我們預計其第一季度的利潤率狀況不會發生重大變化。

And then maybe a little bit on Europe since Christie mentioned in her remarks, we expect a modest step down primarily for energy and raw material headwinds. But again, our operations in Europe are highly cost competitive and the first quarter should be one of our best quarters in history. You didn't mention tubular but since I'm covering the segments here I do think we need to look at the tubular business and you know the trend is our friend and expect Q1 to be higher than Q4 and we expect the segment to continue to benefit from the electric arc furnace that we dutifully put in place and is running well and the momentum we're seeing in the energy sector is very good.

自從克里斯蒂在她的講話中提到之後，也許還有一點關於歐洲的問題，我們預計主要是由於能源和原材料逆風而出現的溫和下降。但同樣，我們在歐洲的業務具有很強的成本競爭力，第一季度應該是我們歷史上最好的季度之一。你沒有提到管材，但由於我在這裡介紹了管材業務，我認為我們需要關注管材業務，你知道趨勢是我們的朋友，預計第一季度將高於第四季度，我們預計該細分市場將繼續受益於我們盡職盡責地安裝並運行良好的電弧爐，我們在能源領域看到的勢頭非常好。

So while we're not running this business for the next quarter, we certainly appreciate the interest in how things are developing. Against the softness, seasonal softness now, but it will be coming back, near-term noise, but we believe it will be coming back and coming back strong.

因此，雖然我們不會在下個季度開展這項業務，但我們當然很欣賞人們對事情發展方式的興趣。面對疲軟，現在季節性疲軟，但它會捲土重來，近期的噪音，但我們相信它會捲土重來並且強勢捲土重來。

Okay. That's very helpful. Just a quick follow-up on some of those comments. Just on the flat-rolled side. Obviously, there's a mix between contract and spot and following through in the first quarter. I'm just trying to get a sense as to how much of the volume in the first quarter is expected to be sold under contract versus spot.

好的。這很有幫助。只是對其中一些評論的快速跟進。就在平軋的一面。顯然，合同和現貨之間存在混合，並在第一季度跟進。我只是想了解第一季度預計有多少成交量是根據合同與現貨銷售的。

Yes, David, this is Kevin. So I think as the auto supply chain issues ease, you'll see particularly the automotive order entries accelerate through 2022. I would say that it's manifesting itself here in the second half of the first quarter, and we expect it to continue to accelerate in the second quarter and beyond. So probably a little bit more spot index exposure in the first quarter. But as those markets like appliance and autos continue to kind of break through the supply chain disruptions. We should see them become even more meaningful percentages of our shipments. Tin packaging remains very strong and that reset will certainly benefit the first quarter and each subsequent quarter in the year.

是的，大衛，這是凱文。因此，我認為隨著汽車供應鏈問題的緩解，到 2022 年你會看到汽車訂單進入加速增長。我想說它在第一季度下半年表現出來，我們預計它將繼續加速第二季度及以後。因此，第一季度的現貨指數敞口可能會增加一些。但隨著家電和汽車等市場繼續突破供應鏈中斷。我們應該看到它們成為我們出貨量中更有意義的百分比。錫包裝仍然非常強勁，這種重置肯定會使今年第一季度和隨後的每個季度受益。

Okay that's helpful thank you very much.

好的，這很有幫助，非常感謝。

Maybe my first question is around that fixed price contract resetting. Have you finished the discussions now? What's the last in, any color -- are you able to provide any color around the magnitude of uplift that you're seeing there?

也許我的第一個問題是關於固定價格合同的重置。你現在討論完了嗎？最後一個是什麼顏色，任何顏色——你能提供任何你看到的隆起幅度附近的顏色嗎？

Yes. So we are -- our annual fixed-price contracts that reset at the beginning of the year, I believe many those have all been successfully completed. We feel like we were tremendously successful in how we negotiated those contracts for the year. We continue to expect, as we mentioned on an earlier call, our average selling prices in 2022 for North American flat roll to reset higher than 2021 as a result of the successful negotiations. So I would say, if anything, we're even more confident in the value that we've locked in year-over-year related to the fixed-price contracts, right? tin products, auto products, appliance products, all seeing meaningful uplifts year-over-year. There's additional upside potential in April. We have some other fixed-price contracts coming due on auto that we're in the mix of negotiating now with our customers and those offer yet another opportunity to create some year over year uplift so as you've heard us talk about were deepening the relationships we have with our customers and we're deepening the partnerships we have with our customers and that, combined with the strong market we find ourselves in, is really allowing us to be successful in fixed-price contracts.

是的。所以我們是 - 我們在年初重置的年度固定價格合同，我相信其中很多都已成功完成。我們覺得我們在今年如何談判這些合同方面取得了巨大的成功。正如我們在早些時候的電話會議中提到的，我們繼續預計，由於談判成功，我們在 2022 年北美扁鋼捲材的平均售價將高於 2021 年。所以我想說，如果有的話，我們對與固定價格合同相關的同比鎖定的價值更有信心，對吧？錫產品、汽車產品、家電產品，都出現了有意義的同比增長。 4 月份還有額外的上漲潛力。我們還有一些其他固定價格的汽車合同即將到期，我們現在正在與我們的客戶進行談判，這些合同提供了另一個機會來創造一些同比增長，所以正如你所聽到的，我們談論的是深化我們與客戶的關係，我們正在加深與客戶的合作夥伴關係，再加上我們所處的強大市場，確實使我們能夠在固定價格合同中取得成功。

So I know it's a bit of a repeat, but I think it's stronger for conviction. And we're really pleased with where we see the packaging, the auto, and the appliance book for 2022.

所以我知道這有點重複，但我認為它更有說服力。我們對 2022 年的包裝、汽車和電器手冊感到非常滿意。

Yeah you kind of look at where we negotiated a year ago I guess where the contracts were and the prices were a much lower level but we clearly find ourselves in a lot better position on these contracts. Christie do you have something to add here?

是的，你看看我們一年前談判的地方，我猜合同在哪裡，價格要低得多，但我們顯然發現自己在這些合同上處於更好的位置。 Christie 你有什麼要補充的嗎？

I think Kevin covered it.

我認為凱文涵蓋了它。

My second question is just around the volume outlook for big river steel. You provided full year 2022 guidance, maybe even backing out for the impact of intercompany shipments it looks like utilization rates may be a little below 90%. Is there an opportunity to get that higher within that 90% plus range consistently?

我的第二個問題是關於大河鋼鐵的銷量前景。您提供了 2022 年全年的指導，甚至可能放棄了公司間發貨的影響，看起來利用率可能略低於 90%。是否有機會在 90% 以上的範圍內持續獲得更高的值？

Yeah I think 90% utilization Emily is the right way to think about utilization at big river, I think that's pretty consistent across the mini mill operations. We'd certainly look to push that higher to the extent possible.

是的，我認為 90% 的利用率 Emily 是考慮大河利用率的正確方法，我認為這在整個小型工廠運營中非常一致。我們當然希望盡可能地把它推得更高。

But as you rightfully pointed out, this full year shipment guidance we gave for 2022 is that third-party external customer shipments. So you have to keep in mind that some of the synergies of the Big River acquisition was leveraging their melt and their high-quality substrates to serve our North American flat-rolled finishing line capabilities. So there is intersegment movement of materials that wouldn't be reflected in those third-party shipments.

但正如您正確指出的那樣，我們為 2022 年提供的全年出貨量指導是第三方外部客戶出貨量。所以你必須記住，收購 Big River 的一些協同效應是利用他們的熔體和他們的高質量基材來服務於我們的北美平軋精加工線能力。因此，材料的跨部門移動不會反映在這些第三方出貨量中。

So we are running Big River at the highest level of utilization we can based on the order book that we have and how it fits within the footprint. Obviously, the first quarter, as we mentioned, is going to be seasonally weak. But we feel pretty good about the full year prospects for our entire operations, including Big River.

因此，我們根據我們擁有的訂單簿以及它如何適應足跡，以最高的利用率運行 Big River。顯然，正如我們所提到的，第一季度將出現季節性疲軟。但我們對包括 Big River 在內的整個業務的全年前景感到非常滿意。

Yes. I think it's important to punctuate that or highlight that because we do believe it's temporary, and we expect Big River Steel shipments, the third-party volumes in 2022 to 2021 record level. So we remain bullish with Big River. And again, we're sorting through some seasonality, I think, as everybody is right now.

是的。我認為強調或強調這一點很重要，因為我們確實認為這是暫時的，而且我們預計 Big River Steel 的出貨量是 2022 年至 2021 年的創紀錄水平。所以我們仍然看好大河。再一次，我們正在整理一些季節性，我認為，就像每個人現在一樣。

We will proceed with our next question on the line from the line of (technical difficulty) Seth Rosenfeld with Exane BNP.

我們將繼續我們的下一個問題，從（技術難度）Seth Rosenfeld 與 Exane BNP 的行開始。

If I can ask 2 questions, please. First, I guess, on the cost side. In Europe, I believe you flagged that there will be a decrease in your carbon costs in 2022. Can you walk us through the drivers of that despite the sharp rise in carbon credit prices in the spot market in Europe.

如果我可以問2個問題，請。首先，我想，在成本方面。在歐洲，我相信您曾表示，您的碳成本將在 2022 年下降。儘管歐洲現貨市場的碳信用價格急劇上漲，您能否告訴我們其驅動因素。

Yes. Christie, why don't you take that one?

是的。克里斯蒂，你為什麼不拿那個？

Okay. Yes, we -- it's a couple of different things that are affecting the carbon costs. One, we have a higher free allocation this year because of the production level that we ran at last year. So that's a significant offset, the free allocation. And we also -- also, we have been hedging CO2 costs and so going out and buying CO2 carbon credits in advance also has impacted our average cost and we also have lower emissions. So that's also impacting the overall CO2 costs.

好的。是的，我們——影響碳成本的因素有很多。一，由於我們去年的生產水平，我們今年有更高的免費分配。所以這是一個重要的抵消，免費分配。而且我們還 - 而且，我們一直在對沖二氧化碳成本，因此提前購買二氧化碳碳信用額也影響了我們的平均成本，而且我們的排放量也更低。所以這也影響了整體的二氧化碳成本。

Okay. And then over in North America, can you touch on the outlook for annual coal contracts? Any sense of the scale or cost pressure or the year-over-year increase in price per ton we can expect for your coal procurement?

好的。然後在北美，你能談談年度煤炭合同的前景嗎？我們對貴方煤炭採購的規模或成本壓力或每噸價格的同比上漲有什麼預期嗎？

Yes, I can comment on that. Yes, this year, we've seen extreme price increases in the coal market. And we feel like we have a very strong position because of our ability to blend coals. We can acquire coals then and hit the same properties, but are lower (technical difficulty) of coals because of our coal blending capability. We also have what we consider to be optimal sourcing through a mixture of long-term and short-term contracts. And all of those things together, we believe our pricing is advantaged, about a 53% increase versus a market increase of 150% or more.

是的，我可以對此發表評論。是的，今年，我們看到煤炭市場的價格大幅上漲。我們覺得我們擁有非常強大的地位，因為我們有混合煤炭的能力。我們可以在那時獲得煤炭並達到相同的特性，但由於我們的配煤能力，煤炭的難度較低（技術難度）。我們還通過長期和短期合同的混合獲得我們認為的最佳採購。所有這些因素加在一起，我們相信我們的定價是有利的，大約增加了 53%，而市場增加了 150% 或更多。

And we'll now proceed with our next question on the line from the line of Michael Glick with JPMorgan.

我們現在將繼續我們的下一個問題，該問題來自摩根大通的 Michael Glick 一行。

Just on the financial side, how should we think about working capital in 1Q and moving through the year? And could you speak to the potential for asset sales during the year?

僅在財務方面，我們應該如何考慮第一季度的營運資金和全年的變動？您能否談談年內資產出售的潛力？

So I'm happy to start on working capital. I think in the first quarter, we would expect working capital to maybe be a modest source of cash with working capital for the full year being kind of a modest full year source of cash as well. So I think working capital will be a tailwind to cash flow throughout the course of the year beginning in the first quarter, and maybe I'll hand it over to Dave and Rich to talk about any non-core asset divestiture opportunities.

所以我很高興開始營運資金。我認為在第一季度，我們預計營運資金可能是一個適度的現金來源，而全年的營運資金也是一種適度的全年現金來源。因此，我認為從第一季度開始，營運資金將成為全年現金流的順風車，也許我會把它交給戴夫和里奇來討論任何非核心資產剝離的機會。

Yes. (technical difficulty) That same point there. I mean, there's cash conversion cycle, and Christie spends a bunch of time every week with our team on making sure we continue to have the leading cash conversion cycle. Now as far as the non-core asset sales, we've -- as you recall, we had Transtar this last year. We have a whole portfolio of things that we look at from a -- from time to time. And Rich, if you could give us an update.

是的。 （技術難度）同樣的問題。我的意思是，有現金轉換週期，科視每週都會花大量時間與我們的團隊一起確保我們繼續擁有領先的現金轉換週期。現在就非核心資產銷售而言，我們已經 - 你還記得，去年我們有 Transtar。我們有一個完整的組合，我們會不時地查看。 Rich，如果你能給我們一個更新。

Yes. Thanks, Dave. So as Dave said, we do have real estate and other non-core assets, and we are continually looking at those to see whether they do or do not fit within the Best for All strategy. I'll not get into any specifics, obviously, but there are always processes that we're looking at. As we say, everything is for sale at the right price. We get inquiries all the time for some of our assets. And I think what I would say is we're not afraid to transact when it makes sense. As Dave said, over the past couple of years, we've done the deals with Transtar. We did the Stelco option in our Minnesota ore. We announced the Keystone Industrial Port Complex real estate transaction. And so I think you should just assume that we continue to look at those kinds of opportunities going forward on a regular basis.

是的。謝謝，戴夫。因此，正如戴夫所說，我們確實擁有房地產和其他非核心資產，我們一直在關注這些資產，看看它們是否符合“最適合所有人”戰略。顯然，我不會詳細說明任何細節，但我們總是在關註一些流程。正如我們所說，一切都以合適的價格出售。我們一直收到對我們的一些資產的詢問。我想我想說的是，我們不害怕在有意義的時候進行交易。正如戴夫所說，在過去的幾年裡，我們與 Transtar 達成了交易。我們在明尼蘇達州的礦石中選擇了 Stelco。我們宣布了 Keystone Industrial Port Complex 房地產交易。所以我認為你應該假設我們會繼續定期關注這些機會。

And then on demand, I get the near-term noise on the hot band side but would love to get more color just on what you've seen in recent weeks on the automotive side.

然後根據需要，我在熱波段方面得到了近期的噪音，但我很想在你最近幾週在汽車方面看到的情況下獲得更多的色彩。

Well, we -- on the automotive side, our folks report that there's more inquiries and I'd say, more optimism as we go ahead. Obviously, there you've got the supply chain issues that have been there for a while. But the thing that's amazing with auto is just unfulfilled demand. The inventories are so low. And it's -- I mean, it's just a math it's not, I think, if it's when. I mean people are wanting to buy cars, and there's a lot of money in folks' pockets as we talked about the savings rate.

好吧，我們 - 在汽車方面，我們的人報告說有更多的詢問，我想說，隨著我們的前進，我們會更加樂觀。很明顯，供應鏈問題已經存在了一段時間。但汽車的驚人之處在於需求未得到滿足。庫存這麼少。它是 - 我的意思是，這只是一個數學，我認為，如果它是什麼時候。我的意思是人們想買車，當我們談到儲蓄率時，人們的口袋裡有很多錢。

So we're encouraged about where we are again, softness in the first quarter, but I think it's going to come back. I mean all these risks, these things kind of swirling around right now with the Fed and the rate increases. We have to remember some of these things are just noise. It wasn't that long ago where the Fed said they weren't going to take rates up until 2024, right? And now we've been hearing the 4 times. One thing is for sure is that it's rare that what they say ends up being what happens because they are nimble and they're going to watch what's going on here.

因此，我們對我們再次所處的位置感到鼓舞，第一季度的疲軟，但我認為它會回來。我的意思是所有這些風險，這些事情現在都在美聯儲和加息中旋轉。我們必須記住其中一些只是噪音。就在不久前，美聯儲表示他們不會在 2024 年之前加息，對吧？現在我們已經聽到了 4 次。有一件事是肯定的，他們說的話很少會最終發生，因為他們很靈活，他們會觀察這裡發生的事情。

So a lot depends on some of those actions that are being taken. But again, we're optimistic. I mean the auto guys are cleaning up their supply chain. And while it won't be probably completed here with the chips and things like that, it's -- the demand is so strong that I think it's -- again, it's not a matter of if, but when, and we'll participate greatly in that.

所以很大程度上取決於正在採取的一些行動。但同樣，我們很樂觀。我的意思是汽車製造商正在清理他們的供應鏈。雖然它可能不會在這裡用芯片和類似的東西完成，但它 - 需求如此強勁，我認為它 - 再次，這不是是否的問題，而是何時的問題，我們將大力參與在那裡面。

We'll get to our next question on the line from Karl Blunden of Goldman Sachs.

我們將回答高盛的卡爾布倫登的下一個問題。

Just interested in the capital allocation updates that you provided around the 3 to 3.5x leverage target. Interested in your thoughts on how you arrived at that and any steel price assumptions that we should bake in for that target?

只是對您提供的圍繞 3 到 3.5 倍槓桿目標的資本配置更新感興趣。對您如何達成這一目標的想法以及我們應該為該目標做出的任何鋼鐵價格假設感興趣嗎？

Where I'm coming from here is, when you think about your EBITDA floor going forward, the asset improvements you've made, that's I think, significantly higher than it was in prior cycles. So potentially that implies a bit more debt for the business as you make this transition? Just interested in any thoughts there.

我的出發點是，當您考慮未來的 EBITDA 下限時，您所做的資產改進，我認為，明顯高於之前的周期。因此，當您進行這種過渡時，這可能意味著企業要承擔更多的債務嗎？只是對那裡的任何想法感興趣。

Well, thanks for the question. As you can imagine, we put a lot of time in thinking through this how to better reward stockholders and provide more certainty as to how we're thinking about this. So there's a whole lot of research and study that goes into each one of these lines on that capital allocation with the 3 to 3.5 leverage ratio as an important one, right? Because we are a cyclical business. And you ask, how do we think about the through-cycle number when we do our modeling.

嗯，謝謝你的問題。正如你可以想像的那樣，我們花了很多時間思考如何更好地獎勵股東，並為我們如何考慮這個問題提供更多確定性。因此，關於資本配置的每一行都有大量的研究和研究，其中 3 比 3.5 的槓桿比率是重要的，對吧？因為我們是周期性業務。你問，我們在建模時如何考慮通過週期數。

And while we get, of course, input from rating agencies, banks and other folks to help us hone in on all these things. But as you look through the through-cycle, we looked at the last -- the average of steel prices on a very conservative basis, which was something like $616. I personally don't think it's going to go that low for a whole host of reasons we could get into a longer discussion. But we try to look at things in a conservative way so that we have some optimism to manage the flows through this.

當然，雖然我們得到了評級機構、銀行和其他人的意見，以幫助我們磨練所有這些事情。但是當您查看整個週期時，我們查看了最後一個 - 在非常保守的基礎上的平均鋼鐵價格，大約是 616 美元。我個人認為它不會那麼低，原因有很多，我們可以進行更長時間的討論。但是我們嘗試以保守的方式看待事物，以便我們對管理通過此流程的流程持樂觀態度。

So when we look at the strength of the balance sheet, we think that's a good level for us to get through a full cycle. And then as far as the investments that we've already identified, Mini Mill 2, the galvalume, the NGO, all those things are identified, and we're going to get through those. And then if there's other opportunities at 15%. We can pick and choose on those as we go forward. But we don't have anything else that we see that we're ready to talk about to announce that we have to raise money or get additional debt. We're heads down executing this Best for All strategy and making sure that when you're flush with cash and the obligation is and when you're confident on where you are, the obligation is to return to stockholders. That's with that additional $500 million is. So there's a lot of modeling that went through all this. We tried to condense it down to its simplest form that we think should be able to resonate with you guys as you do your analysis and also the folks that are buying our shares. And we hope people see that we're spending a lot more time on that and rewarding stockholders more. Kevin, do you have something to add?

因此，當我們查看資產負債表的強度時，我們認為這是一個很好的水平，可以讓我們度過一個完整的周期。然後就我們已經確定的投資而言，Mini Mill 2、galvalume、非政府組織，所有這些都被確定了，我們將完成這些。然後如果有 15% 的其他機會。在我們前進的過程中，我們可以挑選那些。但是我們沒有看到其他任何我們準備好談論宣布我們必須籌集資金或獲得額外債務的事情。我們正全力以赴執行這一“最適合所有人”的戰略，並確保當您現金充裕並且義務是，並且當您對自己的位置充滿信心時，義務是回報股東。這就是額外的 5 億美元。所以有很多建模經歷了這一切。我們試圖將其濃縮為最簡單的形式，我們認為這種形式應該能夠在您進行分析時引起你們以及購買我們股票的人們的共鳴。我們希望人們看到我們在這方面花費了更多的時間並更多地獎勵股東。凱文，你有什麼要補充的嗎？

I think the only thing I would add, Dave, and Karl to follow up on your question is, I think in the near term, there's probably some opportunities to further repay debt. As you know, there's some debt within the Big River capital structure that we can chip away at on an annual basis. And we'll look to do that, obviously, as it makes sense.

我想我要補充的唯一一件事是，戴夫和卡爾跟進你的問題是，我認為在短期內，可能有一些機會進一步償還債務。如您所知，Big River 資本結構中存在一些我們可以每年減少的債務。顯然，我們會考慮這樣做，因為它是有道理的。

To your point about increasing debt, as Dave mentioned, really something we're not going to be focused on in any material way in the near term throughout the execution horizon. As you've seen us do in the past, though, we do like to look at project-specific financing that's long-dated costs to the extent that may be complementary to any of the projects that we're pursuing, particularly the 3 strategic projects that will generate $850 million of incremental through-cycle EBITDA beginning in 2024 or ramping in 2026. Those could make sense. But the goal is certainly not from the balance sheet strength we've been able to deliver throughout 2021, and we want to maintain the strength that we've worked so hard to build over the last 12 months.

正如戴夫所提到的，就您關於增加債務的觀點而言，在整個執行範圍內，我們不會在短期內以任何實質性的方式關注這一點。不過，正如您在過去看到的那樣，我們確實喜歡關注特定項目的融資，這些融資是長期成本，可以補充我們正在追求的任何項目，特別是 3 戰略從 2024 年開始或在 2026 年增加的項目將產生 8.5 億美元的全週期 EBITDA 增量。這些可能是有道理的。但目標肯定不是我們在 2021 年能夠實現的資產負債表實力，我們希望保持過去 12 個月來努力建立的實力。

Still very helpful some of the cases you made for the higher steel price floor and well noted, Kevin, you anticipated my follow-up about preferential, if you will, financing at the additional mill at Big River because you do have really good terms on some of your bonds there.

你為更高的鋼鐵價格下限提出的一些案例仍然非常有幫助，而且值得注意的是，凱文，你期待我的後續行動，如果你願意的話，可以在大河的額外工廠融資，因為你確實有很好的條件你的一些債券在那裡。

We'll get to our next question on the line from Timna Tanners with Wolfe Research.

我們將回答來自 Timna Tanners 和 Wolfe Research 的下一個問題。

I wanted to ask first question about Europe. I had in my notes and this could be old, 5 million tons of stated capacity I know last year you did around 4.3 and guiding to 4.3 as the high end seemed a little light. So I was wondering for some color on that. And then to understand the $80 million favorable change in purchased CO2 credit cost, is that like through the year? Or is that lumpy in terms of realization?

我想問關於歐洲的第一個問題。我的筆記中有這可能是舊的，500 萬噸的聲明容量我知道去年你做了大約 4.3 並引導到 4.3，因為高端似乎有點輕。所以我想知道一些顏色。然後要了解購買的 CO2 信用成本的 8000 萬美元有利變化，這是否像全年一樣？或者在實現方面是笨拙的？

I mean, I think the $8 million on the credit cost, you can just assume is kind of spread out throughout the year, probably no particular reason why it'd be particularly lumpy in any given quarter. 5 million tons of stated capacity at USSK is kind of the nameplate capacity. But as you know, like targeted utilization rate for an integrated facility, think about it somewhere in the kind of 80% range, on maybe a little bit higher at USSK. So I think that we feel like demand and shipments there are going to be quite strong and continue to be strong in 2022. There's no reason for any different to shipment volume. We did complete an outage in the month of January. So that could weigh down shipments a bit in the near term.

我的意思是，我認為 800 萬美元的信貸成本，你可以假設在全年都有分攤，可能沒有特別的理由說明它在任何特定季度都會特別不穩定。 USSK規定的500萬噸產能是一種銘牌產能。但如你所知，就像綜合設施的目標利用率，想想它在 80% 範圍內的某個地方，在 USSK 可能會更高一點。因此，我認為我們認為那裡的需求和出貨量將非常強勁，並在 2022 年繼續保持強勁。出貨量沒有任何不同的理由。我們確實在 1 月份完成了一次停電。因此，這可能會在短期內稍微拖累出貨量。

Okay. And then my second question is just thinking commercially about the first quarter versus the fourth quarter. I know you had said that the fourth quarter volumes were a little light because you didn't want to chase lower prices. But the prices still are even lower than they were in the fourth quarter. So I'm just trying to understand how we should think about shipments relative to market conditions. Like do you think that the destocking is complete already and that will help first quarter volumes? Or how do we think about volumes quarter-over-quarter in light of the current lower steel prices and flat roll?

好的。然後我的第二個問題只是從商業角度考慮第一季度與第四季度。我知道你曾說過第四季度的銷量有點清淡，因為你不想追求更低的價格。但價格仍然比第四季度還要低。所以我只是想了解我們應該如何考慮與市場條件相關的出貨量。您是否認為去庫存已經完成，這將有助於第一季度的銷量？或者，鑑於當前較低的鋼材價格和平軋，我們如何看待季度環比的銷量？

Yes, I think we could -- we would expect to see shipments slightly up in North American flat-rolled quarter-over-quarter with the first quarter being higher than the fourth. But I think we could see volumes in our Mini Mill segment maybe take a modest step-down and then relatively flat in Europe and in Tubular. So I think we're navigating the domestic sheet market the best we can and then we'd expect shipments to then accelerate in the second quarter forward to get to our full year guidance targets.

是的，我認為我們可以——我們預計北美平板軋材的出貨量將環比略有上升，第一季度高於第四季度。但我認為我們可以看到我們的小型磨坊部門的銷量可能會適度下降，然後在歐洲和 Tubular 相對持平。因此，我認為我們正在盡我們所能地駕馭國內板材市場，然後我們預計出貨量將在第二季度加速，以達到我們的全年指導目標。

Now I will now turn the call back to your CEO, Dave Burritt, for closing remarks.

現在，我將把電話轉回給你們的首席執行官戴夫·伯里特（Dave Burritt），以致閉幕詞。

Thank you for Joining this call this morning. We are just beginning to show the potential of our Best for All strategy and look forward to proving the power of the strategy over the coming quarters and years. We know that U.S. Steel has the right strategy for the long-term future, but we know that to achieve Best for All, we need the best from all and that includes strong support from the United States government to support a sustainable steel industry through trade enforcement and support for innovation and decarbonization.

感謝您今天早上加入這個電話會議。我們剛剛開始展示我們的 Best for All 戰略的潛力，並期待在未來幾個季度和幾年內證明該戰略的力量。我們知道美國鋼鐵公司為長期未來製定了正確的戰略，但我們知道，要實現“全人類最佳”，我們需要所有人中最好的，這包括美國政府的大力支持，以通過貿易支持可持續的鋼鐵行業執行和支持創新和脫碳。

To our U.S. Steel and Big River Steel employees, thank you for delivering a year for the record books. You didn't get distracted by record steel prices. Instead, you stepped up your game to deliver record levels of quality and reliability to amaze and delight our customers, and we're so pleased to reward you with record profit sharing and incentive pay, and you did it all by continuing to work safely for yourselves and your colleagues, but we're never satisfied until everyone who enters our facility returns home safely.

對於我們的美國鋼鐵公司和大河鋼鐵公司的員工，感謝您為記錄簿提供了一年的時間。你沒有被創紀錄的鋼鐵價格分心。相反，您加強了您的遊戲，以提供創紀錄的質量和可靠性水平，讓我們的客戶感到驚訝和高興，我們很高興以創紀錄的利潤分享和獎勵薪酬獎勵您，您通過繼續安全地工作來完成這一切您和您的同事，但在進入我們設施的每個人都安全回家之前，我們永遠不會滿足。

We truly have a world-class team at U.S. Steel and it's great to see it increasingly recognized. Earlier this year our compliance team was recognized as a best compliance and ethics program by Corporate Secretary. And just yesterday, we were awarded a perfect 100 score on the 2022 corporate equality index for a third year in a row recognizing U.S. Steel as a best place to work for LGBTQ+ equality. We are pleased to work with such talented and diverse individuals and are fostering in an inclusive environment for all our employees to thrive.

在美國鋼鐵公司，我們確實擁有一支世界級的團隊，很高興看到它越來越受到認可。今年早些時候，我們的合規團隊被公司秘書評為最佳合規和道德計劃。就在昨天，我們連續第三年在 2022 年企業平等指數中獲得滿分 100 分，承認美國鋼鐵公司是促進 LGBTQ+ 平等工作的最佳場所。我們很高興與這些才華橫溢的多元化人士合作，並在一個包容的環境中培養我們所有員工的茁壯成長。

And of course, to our customers, your challenges are what drive and inform our strategy. We are creating a U.S. Steel that will be part of a greener world and part of your solutions to meet your own decarbonization challenges.

當然，對於我們的客戶而言，您的挑戰是推動和告知我們戰略的因素。我們正在創建一個美國鋼鐵公司，它將成為綠色世界的一部分，並成為您應對您自己的脫碳挑戰的解決方案的一部分。

Thank you for your continued partnership in pursuit of our shared customer planet Earth. Now let's get back to work safely.

感謝您在追求我們共同的客戶地球的過程中繼續合作。現在讓我們安全地回去工作。

Thank you very much. And that does conclude the call for today. We thank you for your participation (technical difficulty). Have a good rest of the day, everyone.

非常感謝。這確實結束了今天的呼籲。我們感謝您的參與（技術難度）。好好休息一天，大家。