Key Banc Capital Markets Conference September 11, 2008.

Key Banc Capital Markets Conference September 11, 2008

2

Building on a Position of Strength

Technological Innovation

Our Culture and Team

Diversified Product Mix

Market Leadership

Financial Strength

Growth Strategy

Favorable Industry Dynamics

Nucor’s Best Years are Ahead of Us!

3

NUCOR’S FOCUS: PROFITABLE GROWTH

NUCOR’S 4 PRONGED GROWTH STRATEGY

1. OPTIMIZE EXISTING OPERATIONS

2. GREENFIELD GROWTH

– New Technologies

– Marketplace Niches

3. INTERNATIONAL GROWTH through JOINT VENTURES

4. PURSUE STRATEGIC ACQUISITIONS

Nucor Executes

from a Position

of Strength

4

Steel Shipments 2000-2007(millions of tons)

10% CAGR

5

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 1st Half2008

Net Sales 2000-2007 (millions of dollars)

20% CAGR

6

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

2,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 1st Half2008

Net Income 2000-2007 (millions of dollars)

25% CAGR

7

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1st Half2000

1st Half2001

1st Half2002

1st Half2003

1st Half2004

1st Half2005

1st Half2006

1st Half2007

1st Half2008

First Half Net Income: 2000-2008 (millions of dollars)

8

2004-2007 Return On Equity(%)

24.1

30.0 30.033.3

35.0

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

GerdauAmeristeel

U.S. Steel CommercialMetals

SteelDynamics

Nucor

9

Nucor’s POSITION OF STRENGTH To GROW SHAREHOLDER VALUE• Our CULTURE• FINANCIAL STRENGTH• DIVERSIFIED PRODUCT Mix

• Market LEADERSHIP• TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION• Highly VARIABLE COST Structure

10

It Starts With Our Culture• COMMITMENT TO EMPLOYEES

• SAFETY FIRST!!!• NO LAYOFF PRACTICE• TEAMWORK• PAY FOR PERFORMANCE• CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT• DECENTRALIZED STRUCTURE• Nucor has been PROFITABLE EVERY YEAR AND EVERY

QUARTER SINCE 1966• Nucor’s Employees Take Ownership Of Taking Care Of Our

Customers & Shareholders!!!

11

• Cash Provided By Operations was $1.9 Billion in 2007

• Over past four years (2004-2007), Nucor has generated cash from operations exceeding $7 Billion

• Q2-2008 balance sheet: Debt of $3.3 billion (= 28% Of Total Capital) and Cash of $2.8 billion

• Debt Rated “A+” By S&P And “A1” By Moody’s – Highest North American Metals/Mining Debt Ratings

• Simple Capital Structure – and no off-balance sheet financing arrangements

• Superior Financial Flexibility – very successful capital raising work in Q2-2008 (equity of $2 billion and debt of $1 billion)

Financial Strength

12

Diversified Product Mix First Half 2008 Sales Tons

13

Market Leadership in North America

Position

Largest Structural Producer

Largest Bar ProducerLargest Rebar ProducerLargest Cold Finished Bar ProducerLargest Steel Joist ProducerLargest Steel Deck ProducerLargest Rebar Fabrication, Distribution, & Placement Company2nd Largest Plate Producer3rd Largest Sheet Producer3rd Largest Metal Buildings Producer

14

Technological Innovation• First to commercialize thin-slab casting• Near net shape beam blank casting of wide-flange

beams (structural steel)

• Focus on new disruptive and leapfrog technologies continues!!!

• Castrip® – direct strip casting of carbon sheet steel

• HIsmelt® – converts iron ore to liquid metal or pig iron; both a blast furnace replacement technology and a hot metal source for electric arc furnaces

15

Variable Cost Structure

-

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

$ / T

on

Scrap Cost (Usage) / Ton Metal Margin / Ton

Nucor Steel Mill Metal Margins

16

NUCOR’S FOCUS: PROFITABLE GROWTH

MULTIPLE GROWTH PLATFORMS1. CORE BUSINESS

2. UPSTREAM – David J. Joseph scrap business

3. UPSTREAM – Nucor Steel Louisiana pig iron project

4. DOWNSTREAM – Harris Steel rebar fabrication

5. INTERNATIONAL – Nucor Europe

6. INTERNATIONAL – Nucor Mexico

7. TECHNOLOGY – Castrip®

Nucor’s Multi-

Pronged Growth Strategy

17

Growth Strategy – Pursue Strategic Acquisitions

(1) Cash expenditures for acquisitions is net of cash acquired.

Acquisitions 2000 to 1st Half 2008 (Cash Expenditures)(1)

Q3-2008 Acquisitions: Duferdofin-Nucor S.r.l.($658 million); Ambassador Steel ($185 million); Victoria Recycling; American Compressed Steel

(5 acquisitions)

(9 acquisitions)

(2 acquisitions)

(2 acquisitions)

(2 acquisitions)

(1 acquisition)

(2 acquisitions)

(2 acquisitions)

Nucor is an experienced and highly successful acquiror / integrator.

$0

$122

$653

$35

$170

$155

$224

$1,543

$1,591

$0 $200 $400 $600 $800 $1,000 $1,200 $1,400 $1,600 $1,800

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

1st Half 2008

($ in millions)

18

1.8

4.8

3.0Phase 1

3.0Phase II

0.00.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

2000 2008 YTD

Nu-Iron Scrap Pig Iron

12.6

13.0

5.9

13.0

6.5

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

2000 2007

Base Acquired Productivity

25.4

1.6

0.2

1.6

2.7

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

2000 2007

Base Greenfield Acquired

4.5

1.6

Raw Materials Capacity Growth(tons in millions)

Steel Mill Capacity Growth(tons in millions)

Steel Products Capacity Growth(tons in millions)

Growth Strategy – Capacity Growth

19

Growth Platform – Core Business

• Memphis SBQ Mill• Decatur Galvanizing Facility• Sheet Mill Group’s Growing Value-Added

Product Portfolio (interstitial-free steels, dual-phase steels, complex-phase steels)

• North Carolina Plate Mill Heat Treating Facility

• Arizona Rolling Mill For Straight-Length Rebar, Coiled Rebar, & Coiled Wire Rod

20

Growth Platform – Rebar Fabrication

Harris “RPG”Reinforcing Steel Fabrication Plants

23 Canadian Facilities 23 U.S. Facilities

Rebar: Mills & Fab. Facilities

Nucor Rebar Producing Mills

10 U.S. Facilities

Ambassador Steel 21 U.S. FacilitiesHawaii

21

61 ScrapProcessing

Facilities

Growth Platform – Scrap

22

Why Upstream & Downstream Growth?

• Nucor has been profitably pursuing vertical integration opportunities for 4 decades. Each Nucor division (upstream, steelmaking, downstream) run and held accountable as a profit center

• Importance of gaining greater control over key raw materials in today’s tighter and consolidating raw materials markets

• See inherently higher (than historical) profits / returns in raw materials markets moving ahead

• Both upstream and downstream assets enhance earnings power of steelmaking operations

• Nucor’s downstream assets have historically provided returns equal to (or better) than our core steelmaking operations

• Vertical integration increases Nucor’s profit opportunities without adding steelmaking capacity

• Downstream products less vulnerable to competition from imports

23

Growth Platform – International Duferdofin-Nucor beams & long products joint venture

San Giovanni

San Zeno

Pallanzeno

Italy

Sicily Giammoro

24

Growth Platform – InternationalSidenor long products & plate joint venture

Thessaloniki

StomanaDojran

Sovel

Greece                                                   

25 T:\Branch Offices\PTC\Project PCX Convert\YoungFountain_080513\YoungFountain_080513.WOR

International Growth through JVs

North Africa

Middle East

Greater Europe

Distribution of long steel products from Sidenor to the Balkans, Turkey, Cyprus and North Africa and beams from Duferco to Europe and North Africa

North America Novosteel

26

Growth Platform – Castrip® Castrip® Energy & Emissions Comparison (ladle through hot band) (ladle through hot band)

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

GG

E (t

CO

2 eq

uiv/

t).02

.12

.22

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

Ener

gy C

onsu

med

(GJ/

t)

.2

1.0

1.7

27

Growth Platform – Pig Iron Production

• Proposed Nucor Steel Louisiana state-of-the-art iron-making facility project would represent next major step in our raw material strategy

• Phase I – $2.0 billion in capital expenditures to construct a blast furnace capable of producing 3.0 million tons of pig iron for use in existing mills. Phase II, if built, would invest an additional $1.0 billion for a second 3.0 million ton blast furnace

• Advanced heat recovery technology will capture waste heat and use it to produce power. By second phase of project, facility would be producing 500 MW of power – with 250 MW supplied to the grid. Nucor’s blast furnaces will have latest designs for emissions controls & energy efficiency.

• Sites outside the U.S. are also under active consideration

28

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

E20

09E

Mill

ion

Tonn

es

Improved Global Steel Industry Outlook

World Apparent Steel Demand in Million Tonnes

CAGR ‘95 – ‘09F = 5.4%

Post World War II reconstruction and

Japanese industrialization

Post oil crisis slow down

BRIC cycle

CAGR ‘50 – ‘73 = 5.6%

CAGR ‘73 – ‘95 = (0.4)%

Source: Historical world apparent steel demand chart from IISI.

29

Nucor’s Success• Nucor’s facilities

• Nucor’s capabilities

• Nucor’s financial strength

• Nucor’s strategies

• And, the single most important asset behind Nucor’s success – Nucor’s EMPLOYEES – THE RIGHT PEOPLE!!!

• NUCOR’S BEST YEARS ARE STILL AHEAD OF US!!!

30

“If, during the bad times, we had failed to look past the short-term consideration of this quarter’s earnings, would we have gone on to compile such a record of sustained growth and profitability? I’m certain we would not.”

“If management had thought of our employees as nothing but “headcount” — a term that seems far more appropriate to cattle than to people would they be as motivated and productive as they are today? Again, the answer is clearly no.”

31

Building on a Position of Strength

Technological Innovation

Our Culture and Team

Diversified Product Mix

Market Leadership

Financial Strength

Growth Strategy

Favorable Industry Dynamics

Nucor’s Best Years are Ahead of Us!

32

Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements made in this presentation are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s best judgment based on current information, and although we base these statements on circumstances that we believed to be reasonable when made, there can be no assurance that future events will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking information. As such, the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may vary materially from the results and expectations discussed herein. Factors that might cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (1) the sensitivity of the results of our operations to prevailing steel prices and the changes in the supply and cost of raw materials, including scrap steel; (2) availability and cost of electricity and natural gas; (3) market demand for steel products; (4) competitive pressure on sales and pricing, including pressure from imports and substitute materials; (5) uncertainties surrounding the global economy, including excess world capacity for steel production; (6) U.S. and foreign trade policy affecting steel imports or exports; (7) significant changes in government regulations affecting environmental compliance; (8) the cyclical nature of the domestic steel industry; (9) capital investments and their impact on our performance; and (10) our safety performance.

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” contained in Nucor’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007.