Cleveland-Cliffs to idle steelmaking capacity

Cleveland-based mining and steelmaking company Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. reportedly has sent federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices connected to job layoffs at two steel plants in Pennsylvania and one in Illinois.

The several hundred layoffs and capacity reduction moves are taking place at an electric arc furnace (EAF) mill in Steelton, Pennsylvania, and at a basic oxygen furnace (BOF) mill complex in Riverdale, Illinois, according to the Associated Press. Also affected is a downstream steel quenching and annealing complex in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

In Steelton, the firm operates a 300,000-tons-per-year EAF melt shop that produces steel railroad rails and two other end products. In Riverdale, the company’s two BOFs can produce 700,000 tons per year of steel, according to Cleveland-Cliffs.

The steelmaker reportedly has placed an indefinite time frame on the June idling of the facilities, citing muted demand.

“These temporary, indefinite idles are a necessary response to insufficient demand and pricing for the products the affected facilities produce, including rail, specialty plate and high-carbon sheet, all of which fall outside of Cliffs’ core business focus,” Cliffs says in a statement provided to AP.

AP cites a Cleveland-Cliffs announcement that as of early May 5 had not yet been posted to the Cleveland-Cliffs website for the statement.

The steelmaker reported a loss of $700 million in 2024, with its President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves citing a decline in domestic automotive production and too much imported steel from abroad as among its challenges last year.

Cleveland-Cliffs will announce its first quarter 2025 financial results May 7.