Steel Mills

USS idles iron, steelmaking 'indefinitely' at Granite City Works
Written by Ethan Bernard
November 28, 2023
U.S. Steel said it has indefinitely idled steelmaking at its Granite City Works in southern Illinois near St. Louis.
“U.S. Steel has indefinitely idled Granite City’s primary operations and will meet customer demand by leveraging the company’s active iron and steelmaking facilities,” a spokeswoman for U.S. Steel said in a statement to SMU on Tuesday.
“This action was taken in order to help ensure melt capacity is balanced with our order book,” she added.
The spokeswoman noted that the company “has sent the required notices to employees who potentially may be affected.”
U.S. Steel issued ~1,000 workers a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice that they might be laid off. The company added that it expected ~60% of those would likely lose their jobs, according to a report from St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK.
“We thank our employees for their contributions and will keep them informed throughout this process,” the spokeswoman said.
Recall that in early October, U.S. Steel had announced layoffs of ~300 workers at Granite City. This came after the idling of blast furnace ‘B’ in mid-September.
U.S. Steel said at the time that the idling was in response to the United Auto Workers (UAW) union strike. The UAW strike officially concluded with ratification votes in favor of a new labor contract earlier this month.
The ‘A’ furnace was indefinitely idled in April 2020, according to SMU’s blast furnace status table.

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.