Liberty Steel idles wire mill in Illinois

The former Keystone Steel & Wire electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mill in Bartonville, Illinois, which is now operated by the Liberty Steel USA business unit of the Dubai-based GFG Alliance, is furloughing some 500 workers for up to two months, according to regional reports.

The decades-old recycled-content mill is located just southwest of Peoria, Illinois. The financially troubled GFG Alliance, while founded in the United Kingdom (where the Liberty Steel business unit is still based), now lists Dubai as its corporate headquarters.

The Peoria Journal-Star quotes a Liberty Steel USA spokesperson as saying, “After evaluating current steel market challenges, including the influx of low-priced imports, we have taken the difficult decision to idle the Peoria Wire Mill temporarily from Dec. 6.

“Wire mill staff will be retained on furlough during this period, and the organization plans to restart as the market improves, with a projected date of early February.”

That same report cites the president of the Independent Steel Workers Alliance in Peoria as saying some 260 employees in the melt shop part of the mill will be furloughed, while another 280 work in the wire drawing and finishing operations.

Other employees will remain on-site to fill existing customer orders, according to WCBU.

WCBU's report points to Liberty Steel USA’s recent history in Georgetown, South Carolina, where the melt shop was idled earlier this decade, followed by ongoing production and job cuts.

"The local newspaper reported in October the facility was down to just six employees, and the company was selling off equipment,” WCBU writes of current conditions in Georgetown.

Liberty Steel purchased the former Keystone Wire mill in Illinois in 2018. Keystone as a company traces its roots back to the 19^th century and the production of livestock-related wire fencing. It began installing its EAF production equipment in the 1980s and 1990s, eventually reaching 700,000 tons per year of capacity.

Current owner GFG Alliance has been struggling financially since its banking and supply chain financing ally Greensill Capital collapsed in 2021.

This decade, the company and its Liberty Steel business unit have fended off creditors and lawsuits seeking payment, been the target of a Serious Fraud Office investigation in the U.K. and idled or shuttered capacity in North America and in the U.K. and Europe.