US Steel proposes closure of blast furnace, most flat-rolled finishing facilities in Alabama

Aug. 17, 2015, United States Steel Corp. (U.S. Steel) announced its proposed intent to permanently close its blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations, along with most of the flat-rolled finishing operations, at its Fairfield Works in Fairfield, Alabama.

"We have made some difficult decisions over the last year as part of our portfolio optimization," says Mario Longhi, U. S. Steel President and CEO. "We have determined that the permanent shutdown of the Fairfield Works blast furnace, steelmaking and most of the finishing operations is necessary to improve the overall efficiency and cost structure of our flat-rolled segment."

Under this action, the blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations will be idled. They and the finishing operations would be permanently closed on or after Nov. 17, 2015.  The facilities that would permanently close include the blast furnace and steelmaking operations, the hot strip mill, the pickle line, cold mill, annealing facility and stretch and temper line. 

The slab and rounds casters, the No. 5 coating line and the Double G hot-dip galvanizing joint venture in nearby Jackson, Mississippi, would continue to operate.

The decision to close the blast furnace and most of the flat-rolling finishing facilities at the Fairfield Works does not impact Fairfield Tubular Operations or the electric arc furnace (EAF) construction project. 

U.S. Steel says this proposal was initiated after careful market analysis of the company's current and long-term global operational footprint competitiveness.  The construction of the EAF at Fairfield Works in place of the facility's existing blast furnace was included in that analysis.

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U.S. Steel Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a leading integrated steel producer and Fortune 200 company with major production operations in the United States and Central Europe and an annual raw steelmaking capability of 24.4 million net tons.