Steel Mills

Phase 2 of Algoma Plate Mill Upgrades Pushed to June 2023

August 9, 2022

Algoma’s plate mill is up and running following the first phase of a modernization project that was completed in June.

The second phase of the expansion, initially expected to be finished by November 2022, has been moved to June 2023, a company spokeswoman told SMU on Tuesday, Aug. 9.

The reason: “to support our customers impacted by a longer-than-anticipated outage due to automation issues during the first phase,” she said.

Algoma had scheduled a one-month outage in its fiscal first quarter, which ended in June, to complete the first phase of upgrades. It took the steelmaker approximately six to eight weeks longer than expected to start up the mill following the outage, company executives said on an earnings conference call with analysts last week.

The protracted start-up resulted from problems with automation equipment installed as part of the upgrades. The result: Production and shipment volumes in both the first and second quarters of Algoma’s fiscal year are expected to be lower than in the same quarters last year, they said.

Algoma makes hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, and plate. Company executives noted that the outage and delayed start-up of the plate mill would impact not only discrete plate volumes but also those of strip mill plate too.

SMU’s plate price averaged $1,735 per ton ($86.75 per cwt) when this article was filed, down 3.6% from $1,800 per ton a month earlier on the heels of a price decrease announced by Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor Corp.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He has since 2014 specialized in flat-rolled steel but has previously reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube as well as aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago - where he was involved in launching AMM's daily hot-rolled coil index, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.