International Steel Mills

JSW Steel's U.S. Assets Report ~$31M in Losses

May 21, 2021

Indian steelmaker JSW Steel Ltd. suffered losses of nearly $31 million at its U.S. operations in its fiscal fourth quarter as its mills worked to return to production following pandemic-related shutdowns.

JSW USA JSW Steel USA idled its Mingo Junction, Ohio, and Baytown, Texas, mills in 2020 in response to poor demand resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. The company used the downtime to make upgrades to the facilities. The electric-arc furnace (EAF) at Mingo Junction, which has annual capacity of 1.5 million tons, returned to production in March. The Ohio mill is now “ramping up well” as is the Baytown facility, JSW said in its earnings release.

The Baytown plate and pipe mill does not have melt capability and is reliant on slabs from Mingo Junction and other sources.

Mingo Junction suffered a loss of $24.18 million for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31 on sales of 9,880 metric tonnes of HRC and 3,402 tonnes of slabs. Baytown reported a quarterly loss of $6.6 million. Quarterly sales volumes at Baytown stood at 16,485 tonnes of plate and 203 tonnes of pipe, with the mill operating at just 11% capacity utilization.

The hot strip mill in Mingo Junction remains idled. Some of the slab produced in Ohio will be rolled into coil by Allegheny Technologies Inc. in Brackenridge, Pa., under a toll processing agreement signed by the two companies early this month. United Steelworkers have been on strike at nine ATI plants for eight weeks over wages and healthcare costs in a dispute that is now before a federal mediator. The strike will not impact ATI’s toll agreement with JSW, the company said.

Parent company JSW Steel Ltd. reported record sales globally of more than 4.0 million tonnes in the quarter and nearly 15 million tonnes for the year. “The exceptional fourth-quarter performance was due to strong domestic demand supplemented by exports and improved steel prices. However, the emergence of a second wave of COVID-19 in India has dampened the sentiment due to widespread localized shutdowns in several parts of the country,” the company said.