Severstal North America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Russian steel producer Severstal, has denied a report in the US media which, citing United Steelworkers union officials, states that the downturn in the global steel industry has prompted Severstal "to pull out of the United States."
In its response to media inquiries, Severstal North America has called the media report in question "erroneous."
"While our new leadership team in North America is reviewing a variety of operating strategies for our facilities, we expect our three facilities currently in operation to continue to run with a focus on greater efficiency and internal cost reduction," Severstal North America's spokeman Bette Kovach states. "Ongoing production at these facilities will allow us to meet the obligations of our order book while we also work to further enhance our ability to respond to customer needs," added Mrs. Kovach.
According to the company's release, Severstal has no plans yet to restart operations at its Ohio-based Warren and West Virginia-based Wheeling facilities. " As previously stated when issuing the WARN notifications in May 2009, the Warren and Wheeling operations will remain idle until the market returns for their products."
Severstal North America is the fourth largest steelmaker in the United States, and is currently operating three of its five facilities, i.e. Michigan-based Severstal Dearborn, Maryland-based Severstal Sparrows Point, and Mississippi-based Severstal Columbus (previously known as SeverCorr).
In Q2 2009, Severstal North America's crude steel production declined by seven percent to 1.23 million mt, its semi-finished steel product output went down by 87 percent to 12,912 mt, while its rolled steel product output dropped by 12 percent to 982,648 mt, all compared to the same period last year.