Gerdau Ameristeel announced Wednesday their plans to close melt shop operations at their Perth Amboy, NJ
wire rod mill early in the fourth quarter of 2006.
In an attempt to cut costs and boost efficiency, Gerdau Ameristeel plans to shut down the melt shop, but will continue operating the rolling mill at the NJ facility, receiving supplies of semi-finished billets from other Gerdau melt shops. Gerdau SA in
Brazil, Gerdau Ameristeel's majority shareholder, will supply higher grade billets to the Perth Amboy rolling mill along with other third-party
billet suppliers.
Gerdau Ameristeel plans to continue operating the New
Jersey rolling mill at its current annual
production capacity of approximately 500,000 tons of
wire rod.