Leaders, Steel Caucus Discuss State of Industry

Leaders of the bipartisan Steel Caucus in attendance included Chairman Representative Frank Mrvan, D-Ind., Chairman Representative Conor Lamb, D-Pa., Vice Chairman Representative Mike Bost, R-Ill., and Vice Chairman Representative Rick Crawford, R-Ark. Numerous other members of the Caucus who support the industry in their congressional districts also made appearances.

Witnesses testifying on behalf of the US industry were: Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs; Al Behr, executive vice president of Nucor Corp.; Richard Fruehauf, senior vice president of US Steel Corp.; Tracy Porter, executive vice president of Commercial Metals Co.; Anthony Frabotta, executive vice president of Zekelman Industries; and Thomas Conway, international president of the United Steelworkers union.

Representatives of the steel producers touted the incredible investments their companies have been making, noting that the Section 232 tariffs and trade remedy laws have been particularly useful in helping to make this happen. They encouraged the lawmakers to continue supporting laws to ensure fair trade and create a level playing field for the industry.

“Section 232 measures have helped to restore balance to the US market and to create the conditions necessary for the industry to begin recovering and reinvesting,” commented CMC’s Tracy Porter, who noted that CMC has a third micro mill currently under construction in Mesa, Ariz., and is planning a fourth micro mill in the eastern US.

Nucor’s Al Behr lauded the Charlotte, N.C.-based company’s more than $12 billion investments to expand its steelmaking capabilities and to target new growth areas for steel demand. Of note, he said, are its Brandenburg, Ky., plate mill which will begin operating later this year, the groundbreaking of a new sheet mill in Mason County, W.Va., which will soon take place, and a new rebar micro mill in Lexington, N.C. Nucor employes some 31,000 workers, Behr noted.

Behr said that Nucor has reached a 50-year milestone of being listed on the New York Stock Exchange and will celebrate with the ringing of the closing bell on Tuesday, July 26. Nucor’s production capacity during that time has grown from 138,000 tons of bar at one mill to over 25 million tons of bar, sheet, plate, and structural steel at 25 mills.

The investments of note for US Steel, which employs some 24,000 workers, include the $3 billion mill in Osceola, Ark., currently under construction near its Big River Steel operations, a new pig iron caster at the Gary Works in Indiana, and a DR-grade iron ore pellet production system at one of its two Minnesota mines, Fruehauf said.

The leaders noted some of the hard lessons learned during the pandemic and what can be done to address these issues.

“The pandemic taught us that developing strong, resilient domestic supply chains for critical materials like semiconductors is vital. Reshoring semiconductor production presents tremendous potential for unleashing a manufacturing renaissance in the United States,” Nucor’s Behr stated in his testimony.

“The pandemic and economic recovery have emphasized the critical importance of retaining and rebuilding domestic supply chains. We need American-made steel to rebuild and supply American-made manufacturing,” US Steel’s Fruehauf stated.

“As the American vehicle fleet electrifies, we have a unique opportunity to build the entire EV supply chain in the US… for this electrification revolution to succeed, however, we have an urgent need to re-shore production of microchips and many other manufactured components. I implore Congress to pass the CHIPS Act now – that’s a good start,” Cliffs’ Lourenco commented.

“Although both the US and the world’s economy are being stressed in significant ways, the fundamentals of the domestic steel industry are strong because of cooperation between industry, government, and labor,” the USW’s Tom Conway told Congress, noting the incredible possibilities for the industry through increasing domestic iron and steel procurement. He encouraged the Congressional representatives to support stronger procurement rules using Build America, Buy America (BABA).

By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com