Centenary Fairfield Works idling in USA

US Steel Corp. announced its decision to idle blast furnaces and other operations at its oldest plant in Fairfield, Alabama. Production is scheduled to close by November 17th. According to the company, the decision will affect the employment of about 1,100 workers at the plant. However, there is no information on whether employees will be presented with the option to move to other jobs in the company.

Mario Longhi, CEO of US Steel, said in a statement that “the decision was difficult. But, there was no choice but to shut down to improve the viability and cost-effectiveness of steel rolling operations. He named this solution as part of an optimization program. At the same time, the production of steel pipes at the neighboring plant will remain unchanged. Work on the construction of the electric arc furnace will progress without interruption. Galvanizing operations in Jackson, Mississippi will also not be affected. "

The company said in a statement that tough competition with dumping steel products from other countries continues to destroy the country's domestic steel segment. It is also said that cheap imports, especially from China, in clear violation of international trade practices, have caused significant damage to the US steel industry. It should be noted that the company previously announced temporary downtime at two of its facilities in Minnesota.

US Steel Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a leading Fortune integrated steel producer with major manufacturing operations in the United States and Central Europe. The annual steelmaking capacity is 24.4 million tons. Fairfield Works is located in Fairfield, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.