knofje schreef op 7 juni 2017 09:05:
Not only did US Steel (which has fallen one place to No24 in Metal Bulletin’s global top steelmaker rankings this year) permanently close its blast furnace at its works in Fairfield, Alabama late in 2015, it also idled its mill in Granite City, Illinois.
While it restarted the finishing end at Granite City early in 2017, the hot end of that mill remains closed and US Steel’s plans to add an electric arc furnace at Fairfield remain indefinitely on hold.
Also, late in 2015, AK Steel (which has fallen to No64 from No62) idled its mill in Ashland, Kentucky, and has no immediate plans to restart it.
ArcelorMittal (which remains No1) had idled one of its two blast furnaces at its Indiana Harbor West works, but brought it back online earlier this year.
“On the whole we are optimistic about 2017,” she says.