United States Steel to restart Granite City Works blast furnace, steelmaking facilities

United States Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, has announced it will restart one of two blast furnaces and the steelmaking facilities at its Granite City Works, an integrated steelmaking plant in Granite City, Ill. The additional capacity will support anticipated increased demand for steel in the U.S. from the pending action announced by President Trump as a result of the U.S. Department of Commerce Section 232 national security investigation on steel imports.

“Our Granite City Works facility and employees, as well as the surrounding community, have suffered too long from the unending waves of unfairly traded steel products that have flooded U.S. markets,” said U. S. Steel President/CEO David B. Burritt. “The Section 232 action announced by President Trump … recognizes the significant threat steel imports pose to our national and economic security.”

The company anticipates calling back about 500 employees beginning this month. The restart process could take up to four months.

Both Granite City Works blast furnaces and its steelmaking facilities were idled in December 2015 and the plant’s hot strip mill was idled in January 2016 in response to challenging market conditions, including global excess steel capacity and unfairly traded imports. The pickle line, cold mill, and finishing lines continued to operate in line with customer demand. The hot strip mill was restarted in February 2017.