Steel Mills

Republic to Idle Some Operations in Ohio and NY State

Written by Ethan Bernard

August 11, 2023

Republic Steel said it will indefinitely idle operations at its Canton, Ohio, and Lackawanna, N.Y., mills due to challenging business conditions.

Republic’s owner, Grupo Simec — a Mexican special-bar-quality (SBQ), steel wire, rebar, and long products producer — said that during the idling US customers will be served by the company’s mill in Tlaxcala, Mexico. These customers will experience no interruption of service.

“As a result of the consolidation, about 500 Republic Steel employees will be furloughed indefinitely,” Grupo Simec said in a press release on Thursday, Aug. 10.

“We’re facing an extremely challenging SBQ market in the US, with competitive market pricing and decreased demand,” Jaime Vigil, Republic Steel board member and executive advisor, said in the release. “At the same time, we’ve had to deal with increasing input costs on all raw materials, consumables, and labor, all as a result of the inflationary environment in the US over the past year.”

Vigil noted there was hope inflationary pressures would ease, and that Republic would benefit from the Infrastructure Bill in 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. Unfortunately, he said, neither happened in a timely manner.

Republic and Grupo Simec are the only producers of leaded steel in North America, according to the release. Grupo Simec said National Ambient Air Quality Standards “proved to be too challenging” for Republic, which has facilities up to 125 years old. As a result, the company said it would be “most environmentally responsible” to continue at its new mill in Tlaxcala.

“This isn’t an easy decision,” Vigil said. “But we feel it’s the only way for us to continue to serve our US customer base with an ongoing and reliable supply of product, including leaded steel, and to do so at a competitive price point.”

Republic, based in Canton, Ohio, is a supplier of SBQ. Its products include hot-rolled steel bars, cold-finished steel bars, cold-heading quality rod and wire, and leaded steel bars.

The company operates steelmaking centers that produce steel bars in Canton, and value-added rolling and finishing facilities in Canton, Lorain and Massillon, Ohio; Lackawanna, N.Y.; Gary, Ind.; and Hamilton, Ontario, according to it website.

 Grupo Simec acquired Repbulic in 2005.

 

Ethan Bernard

Ethan Bernard is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. He previously worked for American Metal Market as a copy editor in the New York office for two years starting in 2008. Later, he copy edited AMM’s monthly magazine on a freelance basis from 2015 until 2017. With experience in financial copywriting and textbook publishing, he holds a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA. in Creative Writing from New York University. He can be reached at ethan@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7871.

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