U.S. Steel to take blast furnace offline in late May

United States Steel Corp. has announced that it will be taking its Gary, Ind. Works No. 13 blast furnace offline in late May, rather than on August 1 as previously announced. According to the company, this action will allow the company to run its four other domestic steel producing plants at more efficient levels and will keep flat-rolled inventories in line with customer needs. Domestic flat-rolled shipments for the second quarter currently are expected to be about 7 percent lower than the first quarter, which is expected to result in annual shipments that are lower than the company's most recent projection of 14.5 million tons.

In an April press release, the company announced plans for a major rebuild of Gary Works No. 13 blast furnace. The rebuild is scheduled to be completed by early November.