Steel Mills

Evraz NA Closing Delaware Plate Mill

October 16, 2013

Evraz North America announced Monday it would suspend operations at its steel mill in Claymont, Delaware on December 13th due to “subdued market demand and the high volume of imports.” The Russian-owned mill produces specialized steel plate and has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons but produced only 383,590 tons in 2012 and 189,025 tons in the first half of 2013.

Evraz bought the steel mill in 2007 for $564.8 million. The plant is 93 years old.

The company will lay off all of its 375 workers except a small maintenance crew and said it will consider reopening the mill when market demand improves.

“We appreciate our employees’ efforts to operate EVRAZ Claymont as efficiently as possible,” said John Zanieski, Executive Vice President-Flat Products and Recycling. “Unfortunately, market conditions continue to be challenging and low market visibility makes it difficult to see when positive changes will occur.”

Delaware Governor Jack Marshall expressed his disappointment in the closure. “The global steel industry remains very challenging and DEDO [Delaware Economic Development Office] was told that the facility is losing money as it seeks to compete with unfairly traded imports,” said Markell spokeswoman Cathy Rossi. Rossi added, “The Governor and DEDO will continue to work with Evraz to seek every opportunity to get the plant fully operational again.”

Evraz has been downsizing since 2011, idling its Italian plate mill and selling its South African Highveld mill and Czech Vitkovice steel plant.