(Reuters) – Nucor Corp on Thursday forecast first-quarter 2025 profit below estimates as a weak steel pricing environment continues to weigh on its average selling prices, sending the steelmaker’s shares down 4% after the bell.

On an adjusted basis, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company expects first-quarter earnings to be within the range of fifty cents to 60 cents per share, compared with analysts’ estimate of $1.09 per share, in keeping with data compiled by LSEG.

Nucor, with facilities within the U.S., Canada and Mexico, expects the earnings in its larger steel mills segment to be according to the previous quarter.

Nonetheless, it forecasts a sequential decline in earnings in its steel products segment resulting from lower average selling prices.

Peers U.S. Steel and Steel Dynamics also forecast lower-than-expected first-quarter earnings earlier this week, amid a protracted decline in steel prices.

Nonetheless, the sector awaits improvements within the pricing environment this yr, buoyed by U.S. president Donald Trump’s implementation of additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

(Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)