Steel Products

Steel Summit to Host U.S. Steel's Burritt

July 31, 2020

“Best of Both” is the latest catchphrase at U.S. Steel, but it isn’t just words. It is a serious endeavor to prepare for the changing landscape of the U.S. steel industry, said the steelmaker. Acquisition of the remaining 50.1 percent of Big River Steel, sometime in the next three years, is the company’s highest priority, said President and CEO Dave Burritt, who will be a speaker during Steel Market Update’s upcoming virtual steel summit.

“Today’s uncertain market confirms our need to change and our ‘best of both’ strategy is our path to creating a stronger and more profitable U.S. Steel in any market environment,” said Burritt. “We believe that our ”best of both” strategy will ultimately create a powerful combination of highly capable, low cost differentiated steel solutions, that frankly we’re excited about.”

“[With blast furnaces], we are winning in the strategic markets where we have the capability for differentiation especially in advanced high-strength steel,” said Burritt. “At the low end of the markets, in the trough of the business, if the minimills make it, they’re going to take it. Which tells us we can’t get to the future fast enough.”

Burritt recently penned an op-ed for Fortune magazine outlining the need for an infrastructure bill that will keep our economy and our industries viable for the future.

“Strong action to build the U.S. economy is the best long-term strategy to recover from the unprecedented effects of COVID-19, to prosper in the near term, and to prepare for unforeseen events of the future. The coronavirus has forced us to reassess our ability to handle unexpected events and take a hard look at the efficiency of societal functions and processes. Modernizing U.S. infrastructure ranks at or near the top of the list of actions needed to ensure our economy is resilient enough to adapt to future challenges.

“If we are going to help the American people, let’s do it in a way that provides crucial jobs and lasting benefits to our society and economy. Let’s do something that we all know is needed and not kick the can down the road for another 12 months or 12 years,” he wrote.

You can hear more of Burritt’s outlook on the steel industry at the SMU Virtual Steel Summit 2020, set for Aug. 24-26. For more information and to register for the virtual conference, click here.