Steel Mills

Cliffs to place C-6 furnace at Cleveland Works on hot idle: sources

Written by Michael Cowden

September 12, 2024

Cleveland-Cliffs plans to place the C-6 blast furnace at its Cleveland Works in Ohio on hot idle in October, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Some said the idling could prove indefinite. Others said it was more likely temporary due to weak demand and that there would be no layoffs.

The Cleveland-based steelmaker did not respond to a request for comment from SMU.

Market sources were also mixed on the potential impact of the idling. Some said an extended idling could reduce supply and provide a catalyst for higher prices.

Others said the impact would be muted because several of Cliffs’ furnaces have been running well below capacity. Idling the C-6 furnace would allow those furnaces to run fuller and more efficiently without impacting customers, they said.

Cliffs has two active furnaces at Cleveland Works: C-5 and C-6, according to SMU’s furnace status table. The C-6 furnace has a daily capacity of 4,150 short tons. The C-5 furnace has a daily capacity of 4,350 st.

Cliffs took the larger C-5 furnace down for maintenance in February 2022. The furnace was not restarted until August of that year following a full reline.

It is not clear to SMU whether an idling of the C-6 furnace would prove to be equally protracted or for a significantly shorter period.

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, 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.

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