US Steel idles Granite City mill on auto strike

Integrated steelmaker US Steel is idling the remaining active blast furnace at its Granite City, Illinois, flat-rolled mill in response to the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike.

The 1.4mn short tons (st)/yr blast furnace B at Granite City will be temporarily idled and its product mix will be filled from US Steel's other steelmaking facilities in Arkansas, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

"Following the announcement of UAW strike actions, we are executing our risk mitigation plan to ensure our melt capacity is balanced with our order book," the company said today.

The UAW began striking at three facilities on 15 September, one each owned by Ford, General Motors (GM) and Stellantis. A fourth facility, GM's Fairfax, Kansas, plant, could be forced to shut down early this week because of a lack of parts supplied by GM's Wentzville, Missouri plant, where workers are on strike.

A prolonged labor stoppage would cut into US flat-steel demand, as well as other metals such as aluminum and copper.

US Steel last year proposed a plan to convert Granite City from steelmaking to pig iron production, which would supply its electric arc furnace (EAF) operations in Arkansas and Alabama.

By Rye Druzin