Severstal North America, a division of the Russian steel producer Severstal, has announced that on December 13 this year the Yorkville, Ohio-based cold rolling mill of Severstal Wheeling will restart its operations to provide additional cold rolling capacity, following the signs of improved market demand.
Accordingly, the Yorkville cold rolling mill, which was idled in June 2009, will finish sheet steel made at Severstal Sparrows Point for delivery to customers and to Severstal Wheeling's Martins Ferry coating operation. The cold rolling mill has an annual production capacity of 600,000 metric tons of steel of 0.15-1.09 mm thickness and of 686-1,143 mm width. According to media reports, union leaders have said that in 2010 they expect to process about 500,000 mt at Yorkville, i.e., about 42,000 mt per month.
"The return to operation of the mill will better balance supply and finishing capabilities within Severstal North America and reflects increasing demand for cold rolled and coated products," reads the company's statement.
In the third quarter of the current year, Severstal's North American division registered an 18.5 percent increase quarter on quarter in its revenue to $1.08 billion, while its sales volume went up by 20.6 percent compared to Q2. These results primarily reflect an improvement in demand in the US market.
"Although we believe that the North American market will continue to improve and that we will achieve better capacity utilization, we do not expect a strong market recovery in 2010," Severstal says in its financial report, adding that the restructuring the company is undertaking in the US is expected to deliver a more flexible cost base and to improve its competitiveness in 2010.