ZHENGYANG MACHINERY EQUIPMENT Co.,Ltd.

Republic Steel to Restart Production at Lorain Mill in Spring 2019

The Canton, Ohio-headquartered Republic Steel announced plans to restart furnace operations at its Lorain facility in the spring of 2019. The facility has been idled for around three years now. The company had declared indefinite idling of the plant in March 2016, owing to challenging market conditions.

According to news release issued by the company, it intends to start production at its 9”-10” rolling mill in the second quarter of the current year. The facility will employ over 60 people. The employees have already been hired and provided necessary training. The mill has successfully completed several internal production trials. Republic Steel expects sufficient orders to shift to complete production mode in the second quarter of 2019, the press release noted.

Meantime, the United Steelworkers (USW) union representing workers at the mill announced that it has not received any formal notice from the company with regards to startup of the Lorain mill. Further, the company has not recalled any of its members from lay-off till now. It must be noted that the temporary idling of the rolling mill operations at the facility had resulted in lay off of nearly 200 workers.

At the time of idling of the facility, Republic Steel had promised of a restart as and when it spots notable improvement to market conditions. It had announced plans to reopen the mill as early as September 2018, anticipating improved business on account of 25% tariffs imposed on steel imports into the U.S. by the Trump administration. Later, it had rescheduled the opening to December 2018, citing that import levels have not dropped despite hefty tariffs.