U.S. Steel is idling another blast furnace in Pennsylvania, throttling back on production capacity as prices continue to fall.
The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker just idled a blast furnace and tin line at Gary Works, its flagship steel mill and one of the largest in the country.
Now it’s idling a blast furnace at its Mon Valley Works steel mill in suburban Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania. U.S. Steel did planned maintenance on its No. 3 blast furnace that can make up to 1.4 million tons a year there and has no immediate plans to restart it, given the market conditions and flagging steel prices.
“Scheduled maintenance was completed on the blast furnace, however the furnace will remain down as we continue to balance our production with our order book,” U.S. Steel spokeswoman Amanda Malkowski said. “There are no layoffs associated with this decision.”
Blast Furnace No. 8 at Gary Works can produce up to 1.5 million tons of iron annually that’s then turned into steel for cars, appliances, building components and countless other products. The No. 5 tin line at Gary Works makes up to 140,000 tons of tin products a year for soup, canned vegetables, paint buckets and other products.
Steel prices soared to record highs last year in the United States, including of $1,725 a ton for hot-rolled steel coil. But steel prices have plunged more then 45% this year due to a number of factors, including inflation, relaxed tariffs and recessionary fears. Coming off record highs, the prices of hot-rolled, cold-rolled and other types of steel have fallen nearly every month this year.
Hot-rolled steel prices dipped below $800 a ton last month for the first time since December 2020, according to the trade publication MetalMiner.
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