Both ArcelorMittal and US Steel have confirmed that they are preparing to resume steel production at some of their respective idled blast furnaces in North America.
ArcelorMittal said Thursday that it will restart two of its idled US blast furnaces, including its No. 6 blast furnace at Indiana Harbor, Indiana, which will resume production in early October, and its C-5 blast furnace in Cleveland, Ohio. ArcelorMittal Cleveland also includes a steel shop, hot mill, pickle line, tandem mill and galvanizing line that will also go back online in September.
On Friday, a union spokesperson representing US Steel workers in Canada said that the company is preparing to restart the blast furnace at its Hamilton, Ontario facility, which has been offline since March. Union officials say that the Hamilton furnace could start producing steel again in as soon as 10 days. US Steel's other Canadian blast furnace at its Nanticoke, Ontario mill remains idle.
Some publications have also reported that US Steel is preparing to restart the blast furnace at the firm's Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Michigan; however, the company has declined to comment on the plant's status.
US raw steel production has been inching upward for over a month now, and US Steel announced in July the restart of the two blast furnaces at its Granite City, Illinois works in conjunction with improving US flat rolled steel demand. Industry-wide US raw steel production capacity usage rates are presently at approximately 54 percent, after sinking as low as 45 percent earlier this year.