ArcelorMittal Closing Quebec Mill

ArcelorMittal Long Carbon North America - Wire Group announced the planned closing of production activities at its Lachine facility in Montreal, Quebec. The mill is slated to close by June 30.

"The Lachine and Saint-Patrick wire mills have both been operating at less than 50% capacity since the beginning of 2007. This situation entails high production costs in the North American wire market where supply has been consistently exceeding demand since the early 2000s," said Alain Robitaille, GM, Wire Group. "We cannot continue operating two wire mills in a context where it is more advisable to operate only one plant and thereby bring our costs down to more competitive levels to ensure long term profitability." Robitaille added that U.S. markets for automotive construction and steel wire consumption have been on the decline in the past five or six years, while the value of the Canadian dollar continued to rise against the US dollar.