Steel Mills
US Steel Idles Gary Works No. 8 BF on Market Conditions, High Imports
Written by Laura Miller
September 15, 2022
United States Steel Corporation has idled the No. 8 blast furnace at its Gary Works in Indiana due to market conditions and high import levels.
A spokeswoman confirmed the idling began on Sept. 7.
“We continue to monitor market conditions and plan to bring the furnace back online when business conditions allow,” she told SMU.
No job losses are taking place as a result of the furnace’s idling, with all employees being reassigned to other areas of Gary Works, she said.
SMU’s blast furnace status table has been updated to reflect the idling.
Gary Works is US Steel’s largest steelmaking complex with an annual raw steel capacity of 7.5 million tons of hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated sheet – including tin mill products. The No. 8 BF has a daily capacity of 3,000 tons of pig iron.
Weaker demand and increased imports were also blamed for the temporary idling of the No. 5 tin line at Gary Works earlier this month.
A month-long outage is also currently underway at the steelmaker’s No. 3 Mon Valley Works blast furnace near Pittsburgh. That planned maintenance outage—to apply shotcrete—was pulled forward from its originally-scheduled date of mid-October.
US Steel released third quarter earnings guidance this week, saying it expects Q3 EBITDA of $825 million to be down nearly 50% sequentially and down 60% from the year-ago quarter. Accelerating market headwinds, including weaker demand, lower shipments, and lower selling prices are the reasoning for the anticipated lower earnings.
Negotiations for a new labor contract between the steelmaker and the United Steelworkers union continue, with wage increases remaining a major area of contention, according to a Sept. 9 USW bargaining update.
By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Laura Miller
Read more from Laura MillerLatest in Steel Mills
Mexico’s TYASA breaks ground on SBQ rolling mill
Mexican steelmaker Talleres y Aceros (TYASA) broke ground this month on the construction of a new special bar quality (SBQ) rolling mill in the state of Veracruz.
Goncalves sees more US trade actions ahead, says Nippon deal for USS has ‘zero chance’
Cleveland-Cliffs’ Lourenco Goncalves thinks trade measures announced by the US government on Tuesday against China were just the opening salvo in a series of trade actions. Case in point: The Biden administration targeted China’s “unfair” trade policies with additional tariffs on an array of Chinese-made goods - including steel, aluminum, and EVs.
Nucor holds weekly HRC price steady after last week’s cut
Nucor chose to hold its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil steady this week after stunning the market last week with a significant price decline. The steelmaker said in a letter to customers on Monday morning that its $760-per-short-ton (st) CSP base price for HR coil is effective immediately. The price is unchanged from the CSP announced on May 6 but down $65/st from $825/st April 29.
Nucor’s Jellison set to retire, Spicer tapped for EVP role
Nucor said EVP Douglas J. Jellison plans to retire on June 8 after more than 33 years with the company. Randy J. Spicer will be promoted to EVP effective May 12.
Republican Senators demand Biden block USS sale to Nippon
Three vocal Republican senators are demanding that President Joe Biden block the sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel.