Steel Mills

Republic to Idle Some Operations in Ohio and NY State
Written by Ethan Bernard
August 11, 2023
Republic Steel said it will indefinitely idle operations at its Canton, Ohio, and Lackawanna, N.Y., mills due to challenging business conditions.
Republic’s owner, Grupo Simec — a Mexican special-bar-quality (SBQ), steel wire, rebar, and long products producer — said that during the idling US customers will be served by the company’s mill in Tlaxcala, Mexico. These customers will experience no interruption of service.
“As a result of the consolidation, about 500 Republic Steel employees will be furloughed indefinitely,” Grupo Simec said in a press release on Thursday, Aug. 10.
“We’re facing an extremely challenging SBQ market in the US, with competitive market pricing and decreased demand,” Jaime Vigil, Republic Steel board member and executive advisor, said in the release. “At the same time, we’ve had to deal with increasing input costs on all raw materials, consumables, and labor, all as a result of the inflationary environment in the US over the past year.”
Vigil noted there was hope inflationary pressures would ease, and that Republic would benefit from the Infrastructure Bill in 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. Unfortunately, he said, neither happened in a timely manner.
Republic and Grupo Simec are the only producers of leaded steel in North America, according to the release. Grupo Simec said National Ambient Air Quality Standards “proved to be too challenging” for Republic, which has facilities up to 125 years old. As a result, the company said it would be “most environmentally responsible” to continue at its new mill in Tlaxcala.
“This isn’t an easy decision,” Vigil said. “But we feel it’s the only way for us to continue to serve our US customer base with an ongoing and reliable supply of product, including leaded steel, and to do so at a competitive price point.”
Republic, based in Canton, Ohio, is a supplier of SBQ. Its products include hot-rolled steel bars, cold-finished steel bars, cold-heading quality rod and wire, and leaded steel bars.
The company operates steelmaking centers that produce steel bars in Canton, and value-added rolling and finishing facilities in Canton, Lorain and Massillon, Ohio; Lackawanna, N.Y.; Gary, Ind.; and Hamilton, Ontario, according to it website.
Grupo Simec acquired Repbulic in 2005.

Ethan Bernard
Read more from Ethan BernardLatest in Steel Mills

SDI concerned with potential Brazil pig iron tariffs
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) executives called a 50% tariff on Brazilian pig iron “concerning,” but think tariffs will be a “mainstay” of trade agreements going forward.

SDI earnings slip in Q2 as trade volatility hits customer orders
SDI profits slipped in second quarter amid trade policy volatility.

Cliffs puts ‘for sale’ signs up after another big quarterly loss
Cleveland-Cliffs lost more than $400 million for the third consecutive quarter but predicted results would improve in the second half of the year. And shares of the Cleveland-based steelmaker surged after company executives said during its Q2 earnings call on Monday that they could make billions by courting foreign investors or selling assets.

Algoma sees narrower Q2 loss but feels tariff sting
Algoma Steel expects a narrower sequential loss in the second quarter, but the company continues to be impacted by the US tariff situation.

Nippon plans to double steel output at USS operations: Report
Now that it has acquired U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel is planning a significant expansion of its US operations, including the construction of a new mill and more than doubling its steel output.