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Released February 13, 2019 | SUGAR LAND
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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) (U.S. Steel) (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is reviving confidence in projects that had been shut down in previous years due to then-weak steel market conditions. Citing more favorable federal trade policies and a variety of incentives, including tax breaks, U.S. Steel is pointing to several restarts and revitalization at key steel mills across the eastern U.S. Industrial Info is tracking $1.7 billion in active projects involving U.S. Steel, about two-thirds of which is attributed to steel-manufacturing facilities.
Click on the image at right for a graph detailing active U.S. Steel projects, by U.S. state.
Earlier this week, U.S. Steel announced it would restart its $150 million addition of an electric arc furnace (EAF) at its Tubular Operations facility in Fairfield, Alabama. The project initially kicked off in March 2015, but was suspended that December due to unfavorable market conditions. The technologically advanced EAF will replace an existing blast furnace and produce 1.6 million tons per year of raw steel.
In addition to the EAF, U.S. Steel is at work on a $65 million modernization of the facility's steel caster, a four-strand round caster that produces 742,000 tons per year. The projects currently are set to wrap up in the spring and summer of 2020, respectively. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the EAF and caster projects.
"This investment is an important step to improve our cost structure and positions our Tubular business to win over the long term," said David Burritt, the chief executive officer of U.S. Steel, in a press release. "We are committed to investing in the sustainable steel technology required to be a value-added tubular solutions provider for our customers." Burritt cited President Trump's trade policies, especially tariffs, as instrumental in reviving the projects.
U.S. Steel also cited Trump's policies alongside generous tax breaks as crucial factors in its $750 million revitalization of its steel works complex in Gary, Indiana. The company plans to modernize production at the 7.5 million-ton-per-year mill by expanding buildings and installing new, state-of-the-art production equipment and machinery. But the project is not without controversy: According to Reuters, the $47 million in tax breaks offered by the city and state will go, in part, toward productivity improvements (including automation) that could ultimately reduce the number of paid employees. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
Gary officials remain optimistic that the improved steel mill will increase revenues for the city, but those revenues have been declining largely because residents have moved elsewhere, decreasing Gary's population from 175,000 in 1970 to 77,000 today, according to Reuters. The decline of the domestic steel industry is widely cited as the catalyst.
Another recently announced revival is the $10 million restart of the No. 1 Electric-Weld Pipe Mill at Lone Star Tubular Operations in Lone Star, Texas. It is expected to produce 400,000 tons per year of pipe. The company said the mill was idled in 2016 due to challenging market conditions for tubular products created by fluctuating oil prices, reduced rig counts and high levels of unfairly traded imports. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
U.S. Steel is considering or preparing for a number of smaller-scale improvement projects across the eastern U.S., including:
Click on the image at right for a graph detailing active U.S. Steel projects, by U.S. state.Earlier this week, U.S. Steel announced it would restart its $150 million addition of an electric arc furnace (EAF) at its Tubular Operations facility in Fairfield, Alabama. The project initially kicked off in March 2015, but was suspended that December due to unfavorable market conditions. The technologically advanced EAF will replace an existing blast furnace and produce 1.6 million tons per year of raw steel.
In addition to the EAF, U.S. Steel is at work on a $65 million modernization of the facility's steel caster, a four-strand round caster that produces 742,000 tons per year. The projects currently are set to wrap up in the spring and summer of 2020, respectively. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the EAF and caster projects.
"This investment is an important step to improve our cost structure and positions our Tubular business to win over the long term," said David Burritt, the chief executive officer of U.S. Steel, in a press release. "We are committed to investing in the sustainable steel technology required to be a value-added tubular solutions provider for our customers." Burritt cited President Trump's trade policies, especially tariffs, as instrumental in reviving the projects.
U.S. Steel also cited Trump's policies alongside generous tax breaks as crucial factors in its $750 million revitalization of its steel works complex in Gary, Indiana. The company plans to modernize production at the 7.5 million-ton-per-year mill by expanding buildings and installing new, state-of-the-art production equipment and machinery. But the project is not without controversy: According to Reuters, the $47 million in tax breaks offered by the city and state will go, in part, toward productivity improvements (including automation) that could ultimately reduce the number of paid employees. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
Gary officials remain optimistic that the improved steel mill will increase revenues for the city, but those revenues have been declining largely because residents have moved elsewhere, decreasing Gary's population from 175,000 in 1970 to 77,000 today, according to Reuters. The decline of the domestic steel industry is widely cited as the catalyst.
Another recently announced revival is the $10 million restart of the No. 1 Electric-Weld Pipe Mill at Lone Star Tubular Operations in Lone Star, Texas. It is expected to produce 400,000 tons per year of pipe. The company said the mill was idled in 2016 due to challenging market conditions for tubular products created by fluctuating oil prices, reduced rig counts and high levels of unfairly traded imports. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
U.S. Steel is considering or preparing for a number of smaller-scale improvement projects across the eastern U.S., including:
- $64 million in upgrades and equipment additions at the Midwest Steel Products Plant in Portage, Indiana; see project report
- $20 million burner additions at the Minntac Iron Ore Pellet Plant in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, which includes pollution-control equipment and low-nitrous oxide burners; see project report
- $15 million rebuilding of Blast Furnace No. 1 at Edgar Thomson Steel Works in Braddock, Pennsylvania; see project report
- $35 million relining of Blast Furnace No. 3 at Edgar Thomson Steel Works; see project report
- $10 million in repairs and relining of Blast Furnace B at Great Lakes Steel Works in Ecorse, Michigan; see project report
