Steel Mills
U.S. Steel Takes Big Steps to Adjust Production
Written by Sandy Williams
March 29, 2020
U.S. Steel announced on Friday a series of aggressive actions to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus and significant demand changes in the oil and gas industry.
Flat-rolled:
Gary Works—U.S. Steel will idle the #4 blast furnace at Gary Works immediately, moving up a 48-day outage originally planned for April. The scope of the planned maintenance has been reduced and the remaining work delayed. The #4 blast furnace will remain idled until market conditions improve.
Granite City Works—The A furnace at Granite City will be temporarily idled, effective immediately.
Great Lakes Works–The indefinite idling of the iron and steelmaking facilities at Great Lakes will continue.
Tubular:
Lone Star Tubular Operations and Lorain Tubular Operations—All or most operations will be idled for an indefinite period of time, beginning in late-May, in response to weak tubular market conditions and high levels of imports.
U.S. Steel Projects:
Mon Valley Works–Construction will be delayed on the endless casting and rolling line and cogeneration facility at Mon Valley Works.
Tubular–The electric arc furnace construction will continue as planned, with completion and first arc anticipated in the second half of 2020.
Gary Hot Strip Mill–Upgrades have been paused as U.S. Steel evaluates the pace and timeline for completion.
USSE Dynamo line—The non-grain oriented electrical steel line at USSE remains delayed.
“U.S. Steel has been a cornerstone of manufacturing for over a century and our products are vital to national and economic security,” said President and CEO David Burritt. “I am confident in the resilience of our employees, the strength of our customer relationships, and the reliability of our regional supply chain. The actions we are announcing today make us stronger and enable us to weather the current situation to emerge as a leader in sustainable steel solutions for generations to come.”
Sandy Williams
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