The steel industry today is vital to both economic competitiveness U.S. STEEL LEADER MAINTAINS GROWTH IN THE INDUSTRY

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1 Nucor Corp. says it is the largest steel producer in the United States and has about $6 billion in sales annually. U.S. STEEL LEADER MAINTAINS GROWTH IN THE INDUSTRY The steel industry today is vital to both economic competitiveness and national security, according to the Department of Energy s Energy Information Administration. Steel is the skeleton of bridges, skyscrapers, railroads, automobiles and appliances. Most grades of steel in use today particularly high-strength steels that are lighter and more versatile were not available 10 years ago. Steel is the most recyclable and recycled material in North America, with an overall recycling rate of 68 percent. The U.S. steel industry is a $50 billion-plus business and additional downstream processing P R O F I L E Nucor Corp Sales: About $6 billion HQ: Charlotte, N.C. Employees: 9,900 Products: Steel Nucor: Nucor has distinguished itself as a leading producer of quality steel and steel products. pushes this value closer to $75 billion. In addition, there are more than 1,200 firms operating in a few states. The absolute number of integrated mills (producing steel in basic oxygen furnaces) has always been relatively small and is currently about 20. The industry employs approximately 154,000 people nationwide. The steel industry is one of the largest energy consumers in the manufacturing sector and has invested more than $7 billion in environmental controls. Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor Corp. calls itself the largest steel producer in the United States and has about $6 billion in sales annually. What s more, Nucor is the nation s largest recycler, recycling more than 10 million tons of scrap steel annually, according to the company. HISTORY OF NUCOR Nucor s origins are with auto manufacturer Ransom E. Olds, who founded Oldsmobile and then REO Motor Cars. Through a series of transactions, the company Olds founded eventually became the Nuclear Corp. of America. Nuclear was involved in the nuclear instrument and electronics business in the 1950s and early 1960s. Though the company filed for bankruptcy in 1964, the addition of F. Kenneth Iverson as president and Samuel Siegel as vice president of finance helped it to became a profitable»

2 » operation eventually. The company moved its headquarters from Phoenix to Charlotte, N.C., in 1966, and expanded its joist business with new operations in Texas and Alabama. Management then decided to integrate backwards into steel making by building its first steel bar mill in Darlington, S.C., in In 1972, the company adopted the name Nucor Corp. Since that time, Nucor has built three more Vulcraft facilities, eight steel mills and expanded into other steel products. Today, Nucor has operating facilities in nine states. Its products are carbon and alloy steel in bars, beams, sheet, and plate; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; metal building systems; and light-gauge steel framing. TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP Nucor s strong emphasis on employee communication and commitment carries with it the commitment to provide the work force with the best technology available to get the job done right in a safe working environment, the company says. Nucor aggressively pursues the latest advancements in steelmaking around the world to determine what technology it can adapt in its facilities. This pursuit of technical excellence led to the joint venture with Yamato-Kogyo of Japan to build Nucor-Yamato Steel Co. in 1988, Nucor says. At Nucor-Yamato, Yamato-Kogyo s technological expertise in structural beam blank casting was successfully combined with Nucor s management philosophy and talented personnel to build one of the premier structural steel mills in the United States. In addition, the Nucor Steel sheet mills in Indiana, Arkansas and South Carolina represent a revolution in the thin slab casting. Nucor was the first mini-mill to successfully commercialize the technology developed by a company in West Germany. RECENT ACQUISITIONS In June, Nucor entered into an agreement to purchase substantially all of the steelmaking assets of Corus Tuscaloosa for a cash purchase price of approximately $90 million. Tuscaloosa is a coiled plate mill that manufactures pressure vessel steel coil, discrete plate and cut-to-length plate products. Located in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the steel mill was built in 1985 and was the first U.S. steel mill to employ Steckel mill technology to produce high-quality wide plate from coil. In 1996, a melting and casting facility expansion and mill modernization increased its annual capacity to approximately 700,000 tons. We view Tuscaloosa as an excellent addition of niche products to offer to our commodity plate and coiled sheet customers, said Nucor Vice Chairman, President and CEO Dan DiMicco, at the time of the announcement. We are looking forward to the addition of the Tuscaloosa operations and their team to our Nucor family. This acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive. Added Joe Rutkowski, executive vice president, Our initial plans at our Hertford County, N.C., plate mill contemplated the future installation of coiled plate capability. We are excited to»

3 » now offer these products to our customers through this acquisition. In May, Nucor entered into an agreement with Worthington Industries Inc. for the purchase of certain assets of its cold rolling mill in Decatur, Ala., for a cash purchase price of approximately $82 million. The assets purchased include all of the buildings, the pickle line, four-stand tandem cold mill, temper mill and annealing furnaces of the Decatur facility adjacent to the current Nucor Steel Decatur LLC steel plant. The purchase does not include the slitting and cut-to-length equipment, which Worthington will continue to operate. Worthington Industries constructed the plant and started production in The addition of the pickle line, cold mill and annealing equipment enhances our ability to service the value-added sheet market from our Nucor Steel Decatur LLC sheet mill similar to the capability of our other sheet mills in Indiana, Arkansas and South Carolina, DiMicco said at the time of the purchase. We look forward to integrating these assets into our company and the Sheet Group, in particular, said John Ferriola, executive vice president of Nucor s sheet group. We have a strong and valued relationship with Worthington and we believe this transaction will serve to strengthen that relationship. These additional assets improve our ability to supply Worthington as well as our other valued customers with a full complement of hot roll, pickled, cold-rolled full hard and cold-rolled fully processed coils, he continued. We are presently studying the feasibility of additional finishing capabilities at this facility to better meet the value-added product needs of our customers. In January, Nucor made a one-half interest purchase on its wholly owned subsidiary Harris Steel Group Inc. for a cash purchase price of approximately $21 million. In addition, Harris Steel Group may receive up to an additional $6 million upon the achievement of certain operating results of the venture in the next five years. Harris Steel is the second-largest independent rebar fabricator in the United States, with fabricating facilities located in Tacoma, Wash.; Phoenix and Kingman, Ariz.; Livermore and Modesto, Calif.; Bethlehem, Pa.; and Rochester, Mass. According to Nucor, Harris Steel Group will continue to operate these facilities and manage the operations of Harris Steel. This venture is a downstream integration from our bar mills into a value-added process, DiMicco said at the time of the announcement. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with Harris Steel Group. CUSTOMER SERVICE AND QUALITY Nucor says it is committed to uncompromising quality, responsive service and competitive pricing. Through continuous innovation, modern equipment, dedication to the customer and concentration on productivity from a highly motivated work force, Nucor has distinguished itself as a leading producer of quality steel and steel products, the company states. Many Nucor locations are ISO 9000 certified. Nucor employees are committed to providing customers with the highest quality»

4 Steel is the skeleton of bridges, skyscrapers, railroads, automobiles and appliances.» levels at the most competitive prices. And, while steel and steel products are Nucor s business, the real business of Nucor is its commitment to each and every customer on each and every order. ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS In 2003, Nucor signed an agreement to construct and operate an environmentally friendly pig iron project in northern Brazil. The project uses two conventional mini-blast furnaces to produce about 380,000 metric tons of pig iron per year in its initial phase, using CVRD iron ore from its Carajas mine in northern Brazil. The charcoal source will be exclusively from eucalyptus trees grown in a cultivated forest of 82,000 acres with the total project encompassing approximately 200,000 acres in northern Brazil. CVRD and Nucor will form a joint venture company to operate the facility. It is anticipated that Nucor will purchase all of the production of the plant. Nucor will invest $10 million in the project while CVRD s equity contribution will be the land and forest assets (currently owned by its wholly controlled subsidiary CELMAR SA). The total capital of the project will be about $80 million. The ownership will be split 78 percent CVRD and 22 percent Nucor. The use of a cultivated forest to produce charcoal allows for an environmentally friendly approach to pig iron production since the forest will consume more carbon dioxide than will be emitted by the mini-blast furnaces, DiMicco said at the time of the announcement. We look forward to a long relationship with CVRD and hope this is only the first of many projects together. This agreement is the first step in our partnership with Nucor since we announced our intentions to cooperate one year ago, Roger Agnelli, CVRD CEO, commented. This undertaking is to leverage iron ore sales and to indirectly increase CVRD s penetration in the North American market, which is in line with the strategy of generating value for shareholders by focusing on mining. It is a victory for both companies, Brazil and the environment. CVRD is the largest diversified mining company in the Americas, with a market capitalization of approximately $11 billion. CVRD is the world s largest producer and exporter of iron ore and pellets and one of the leading global producers of manganese and ferro alloys. CVRD produces bauxite, gold, kaolin, potash, alumina and aluminum, and is a major logistics player in Brazil. The company also holds some stakes in steel companies in South America and in the United States. MEETING MILESTONES In June, Nucor s first commercial installation using the Castrip process at its Crawfordsville, Ind., plant had surpassed the 100,000-ton cumulative production milestone. With start-up in May 2002, Nucor is steadily progressing toward full commercial production of steel sheet with a target range of to 0.08 inches. Along with the production record, Castrip LLC also announced the plant has produced steel sheet down to a thickness of inches.»

5 » One of the key features of the Castrip process is the ability to produce ultra-thin hot band gauges that can compete with traditional cold-rolled material in many applications, the company says. Nucor s production crews at Crawfordsville have been steadily reducing the average gauge produced through the plant since operations began, the company says. Production during the month of April 2004 ranged from to inches. This range is below, and complementary to, the range of thicknesses produced with Nucor s existing thin slab caster at Crawfordsville. Castrip UCS material from Nucor has been introduced to the market as hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized products through the Crawfordsville sales team. The products have been primarily utilized in the construction and agricultural markets in end-use applications such as structural decking, studs, purlins, strapping, roll-formed panels and welded tube, the company states. The Castrip process has a design capacity of 500,000 tons per year from a single strand. Nucor is in the process of increasing capacity at the Crawfordsville EAF shop in order to enable sufficient steel supply to the Castrip facility in addition to its existing operations. Based in Charlotte, Castrip is a joint venture of Nucor, Blue- Scope Steel Ltd. of Australia and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries of Japan. The company was formed to market and license the intellectual property developed jointly by its three owners related to the twin-roll casting of carbon and stainless steels. EMPLOYEE RELATIONS The company s success comes from its more than 9,900 employees, according to the company. Nucor says it seeks to hire and retain highly talented and productive people. The company says it has a simple, streamlined organizational structure to allow employees to innovate and make quick decisions. Nucor is highly decentralized, with most day-to-day operating decisions made by the division general managers and their staff, according to the company. The organizational structure at a typical division is made up of three management layers: general manager, department manager, supervisor and hourly employee. Employee relations at Nucor are based on four clear-cut principles: Management is obligated to manage Nucor in such a way that employees will have the opportunity to earn according to their productivity. Employees should be able to feel confident that if they do their jobs properly, they will have a job tomorrow. Employees have the right to be treated fairly and must believe that they will be. Employees must have an avenue of appeal when they believe they are being treated unfairly. By implementing these four basic principles within a relatively simple organizational structure, Nurcor has been able to attract and retain highly talented and productive employees, according to the company.