US Steel restarts Mon Valley blast furnace

Integrated steelmaker US Steel has restarted its idled 1.5mn short ton (st)/yr No 1 blast furnace at Mon Valley south of Pittsburgh.

The blast furnace was brought online last week to meet increased demand after being shut down due to Covid-19-related demand shocks, US Steel said today. It is the first blast furnace to be restarted since nearly 18mn st/yr of blast furnace-based steel production was taken offline beginning in March.

Mon Valley's smaller 1.4mn st/yr No 3 blast furnace has remained online.

The No 1 blast furnace was idled on 30 April along with the No 6 blast furnace at US Steel's Gary Works in northern Indiana. The Pittsburgh-based company idled five of its eight US blast furnaces in response to Covid-19-related demand shocks.

Some steel market participants questioned the timing of the restart and whether there is enough demand to consume additional tons made at the Mon Valley mill.

After the US economy was hit with coronavirus closures beginning in mid-March, spot hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices fell by 30pc to a low of $470.75/st at the end of April. Since then steelmakers have announced $80/st of price increases, helping spot prices to recover somewhat to $514.50/st today.

By Rye Druzin