Steel Mills

NLMK USA Plans June Outage at Indiana Melt Shop, Hot Mill
Written by Michael Cowden
March 16, 2021
NLMK USA has slated an approximately one-week maintenance outage in June on the melt shop and hot strip mill at its facility in Portage, Ind., a company official confirmed.
The plant-wide outage is for routine semi-annual maintenance and “isn’t a big deal,” said NLMK USA Executive Vice President James Banker.
The Portage electric-arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill, also known as NLMK Indiana, typically takes another outage of approximately the same duration again in late November or early December, usually around Thanksgiving, he said.
NLMK Indiana makes hot-rolled coil, hot-rolled pickle and oil, and high carbon and alloy material, according to its website.
Its EAF has capacity of 680,000 tons per year, and its hot strip mill has annual capacity of one million tons per year, according to the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) 2021 Directory of Iron and Steel Plants.
NLMK USA is hardly the only steel mill taking a planned maintenance outage in the next few months. North Star BlueScope and AM/NS Calvert are also taking short outages in the spring or early summer, as SMU has previously reported.
U.S. Steel, meanwhile, is taking a more significant 25-day outage on the No. 1 blast furnace at its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania.
The smaller outages might not be news in an ordinary market. But consumer sources are taking note of them this year given scarce spot supplies and record high steel prices.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Mills

Nippon could up investment in USS facilities to $7B: Report
It's the latest twist as the proxy battle heats up for Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel.

Hybar expansion still on the table as Arkansas mill startup nears
As Hybar nears the completion of its $700-million rebar mill in Arkansas, the company said it is still “actively considering” building other steel facilities in the southern US.

Global steel production edges lower in February
February’s global raw steel output is tied with last December's for the fourth-lowest monthly production rate recorded over the past two years.

Fate of U.S. Steel hangs in the balance
The future of U.S. Steel remains unclear, but the proxy fight for control of the company is heating up. Shareholders will cast their votes on the company's future at the annual meeting in May.

Cliffs to idle Dearborn blast furnace, restart Cleveland furnace by July
Cleveland-Cliffs has decided to idle the steelmaking operations at its Dearborn Works in Michigan due to weak automotive demand.