Cliffs plans to idle three mills, cut 950 jobs on 'insufficient demand and pricing'

The idlings “are a necessary response to insufficient demand and pricing for the products the affected facilities produce, including rail, specialty plate, and high-carbon sheet; all of which fall outside of Cliffs’ core business focus,” the company said in a statement emailed to SMU on Friday, May 2.

“Cliffs’ flat-rolled steel production levels will not be impacted by these actions,” the company added.

Cliffs also stressed that the idlings were not because of steel tariffs.

Steelton, near Harrisburg, Pa., makes rails. Conshohocken is a plate finishing facility near Philadelphia. And Riverdale, outside of Chicago, is a compact strip mill.

Riverdale is notable because it sources hot metal from Cliffs’ steel mill in East Chicago, Ind. Cliffs rails the metal across the border into Illinois on specialty torpedo cars.

The latest idlings at Cliffs come after the company in March announced plans to idle steelmaking operations at its Dearborn Works in Michigan because of weak automotive demand. That idling is expected to result in approximately 600 jobs losses.

The company also announced plans in March to idle portions of its mining operations in Minnesota. Those cuts are expected to cost approximately 630 jobs.