U.S. Steel comments on blast furnace accident
US Steel Corp. said today that despite an accident that damaged a furnace section last week, its No. 14 blast furnace at Gary Works should be in use by early December.
Carlee Vargo of
US Steel told SteelOrbis, The furnace section is being repaired and its expected to be in place in less than a week or so.
The furnace should be capable of achieving its expected
production rate of 9200 tons per day by January 2006.
The company also commented on third quarter business conditions and said it expects earnings will be less than estimated by analysts, due in part to declines in income for flat rolled and
US Steel Europe segments.
The company says flat rolled steel shipments are now expected to be slightly below second quarter levels, and flat rolled average prices are expected to be moderately lower than the second quarter.
Flat rolled costs have also increased this quarter along with rising
scrap and natural gas costs.
Though third quarter shipments in
Europe will be below second quarter shipments, a blast furnace at
US Steel Kosice,
Slovakia is expected to return to
production in October, and should support higher operating levels and strengthening order rates.