Steel Mills
Algoma Aims To Ramp Plate Production by Year End
Written by Michael Cowden
September 29, 2023
Algoma Steel Inc. plans to ramp up production at its modernized plate mill toward the end of the year.
Operations Update
The Canadian sheet and plate producer said it in the meantime continues hot commissioning at the upgraded facility and has begun cold commissioning as well.
The company said it has also run trials through the plate mill’s heavy-gauge inline shear.
Algoma CEO Michael Garcia said the development was a “key milestone” in a press release providing both fiscal Q2 earnings guidance and operations updates.
Recall that the plate mill upgrade has faced significant delays.
Another development on the operations side: Algoma expects to perform planned annual maintenance on its steel-making vessel, including a reline, in its fiscal Q3.
That maintenance comes ahead of Algoma transitioning to EAF production, something that is necessary for it to meet aggressive decarbonization targets.
Work on that transition “has advanced as expected” during the company’s fiscal second quarter. The two EAFs, which will replace Algoma’s two blast furnaces, are on track to be commissioned late in 2024, Garcia said.
Fiscal Q2 Earning Guidance
All told, Algoma expects to ship 450,000 to 550,000 tons of steel in its fiscal Q2.
The company also projects that adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in Q2 will be Canadian $75 million to $85 million ($55 million to $63 million USD).
That’s significantly lower than adjusted EBITDA of C$191.2 million in Algoma’s fiscal first quarter when it shipped 569,433 tons.
Algoma said recent steel shipments had been hit by “lower than expected” prices resulting from the UAW strike at Ford, GM, and Stellantis operations in the US. The company is “closely monitoring” the expanding strike, Garcia said.
Unlike in the US, auto workers in Canada did not go on strike. But closely interlinked North American supply chains mean that the impact of the UAW strike is being felt outside of the States.
Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Mills
USW seeks clarity on plans for Granite City Works
The United Steelworkers union has asked U.S. Steel to elaborate on its Granite City Works plans following reports that the steelmaker is ending processing at the facility.
Nucor maintains plate prices, opens October order book
Nucor aims to keep plate prices flat for a seventh straight month with the opening of its October order book.
ArcelorMittal Mexico to import from sister mills as it works to resume DRI production
ArcelorMittal has partially restarted operations at its direct reduction plant in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan. An explosion on Aug. 18 rocked the massive steelworks on Mexico’s Pacific coast, impacting production of direct-reduced iron (DRI).
Fall maintenance outages are coming in hot
Labor Day has passed, the sun is starting to set a little earlier each day, and cooler weather has begun to find its way down to many of us across North America. And you know what that means for the steel industry… Fall maintenance outages!
AISI: Domestic steel production ticks up
US raw steel production ticked up in the week ending on Sept. 6 after a decrease the week before, according to the most recent data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).