Market Segment
May 2, 2025
Written by Michael Cowden
Cleveland-Cliffs plans to indefinitely idle its steel mill in Riverdale, Ill., as well as mills in Conshohocken, Pa., and Steelton, Pa.
The Cleveland-based steelmaker said all three facilities would be idled on or around June 30. Approximately 950 jobs will be impacted, the company said.
Canada’s Minister of Industry Melanie Joly has said she won’t meet with Cleveland-Cliffs until it presents a plan and a timeline to restore jobs at its Stelco operations in Hamilton, Ontario. This follows the Cleveland-based steelmaker saying on Monday it was in full compliance with undertakings related to its buy of Stelco in 2024. Stelco announced layoffs affecting up to 500 workers last month. The company cited the impact of US Section 232 tariffs. Subsequently, the Canadian government alleged that the layoffs violated commitments Cliffs made when it purchased Stelco in 2024.
Nucor has been awarded an entire General Motors platform for exposed automotive sheet, Chair and CEO Leon Topalian said on a call Tuesday discussing the company’s third-quarter earnings. Topalian described the award as a breakthrough for Nucor in a product area he said integrated steelmakers had long dominated. Nucor plans to shift related process engineering and quality control work to its new West Virginia sheet mill as the facility ramps up, Topalian said. He said the mill would be capable of producing high-end automotive steel. Noah Hanners, executive VP of sheet products, said West Virginia automotive tons would begin customer qualifications in 2028.
JSW Steel’s US operations reported higher EBITDA in the second quarter of FY 2026-27, as improved sales realizations offset lower production at its Ohio and Texas facilities. The company's electric-arc furnace (EAF) facility in Ohio produced 224,933 short tons (st) of slabs in the quarter, at 62% capacity utilization. Slab production fell quarter over quarter, primarily because of a scheduled shutdown for electrical upgrades and maintenance, the company said. Sales were 112,663 st of slabs and 91,198 st of hot-rolled (HR) coil. EBITDA rose 22% q/q to $5.85 million, driven by better sales realizations, which partly offset the effect of lower volumes.
Nucor's net earnings more than doubled in the third quarter of this year compared to the same quarter last year on higher steel prices and sales volumes. The strong showing was supported by "robust demand across key end markets," company Chair and CEO Leon Topalian said in a statement released with Q3'26 earnings data after the close of markets on Monday. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker reported net earnings of $1.32 billion in Q3'26, more than double earnings of $607 million in Q3'25 on sales that rose 32% to $11.25 billion in the same comparison.
Domestic raw steel production fell last week, dropping to the lowest output since January, according to the latest American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) figures. The seesaw pattern continued for US production this past week, maintaining a trend seen for the past few months. Fluctuations have been so significant that in just the past two months, output has hit both a six-year high and a six-month low. And despite the week-to-week variations, output has mostly trended lower. Still, despite that overall decline, output to date in 2026 remains strong compared with recent years. AISI estimated total US raw steel mill output to be 1,774,000 short tons (st) in the week ending Oct. 24 (Figure 1). Production was 96,000 st (5.1%) below the prior week, driven by cuts in two of the five regions tracked by AISI.