Oregon Steel Taking Downtime

Oregon Steel Mills, Inc. will temporarily shut down its Portland, Ore., steel mill and rolling facility.

The heat treat facility, which provides specialty plate, will continue to operate.

The shutdown at Portland is scheduled to last approximately three weeks and will begin December 24 with startup expected to be January 13, 2003. The Portland shutdown is in response to a seasonal slowdown in demand for plate products, which appears to be more severe than in prior years.

Joe Corvin, president and CEO, stated, "We believe the temporary idling of our facilities makes the most financial sense. We have chosen not to participate in markets where pricing does not provide a reasonable margin."

Corvin continued, "The uncertain economic times coupled with excess customer inventories are having an impact on customer buying patterns. Rather than operate during this period, we will use the shutdown period to perform maintenance in the mills."

Napa Pipe Mill is expected to complete the Kern River project by December 24. The mill will shut down between Christmas and New Years. Beginning January 2, 2003, the mill will begin production on its 2003 pipe projects.