ArcelorMittal Announces Planned Outage at Indiana Harbor Steel Mill

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Luxembourg-based integrated steelmaker ArcelorMittal announced planned outage at one of the blast furnaces at its Indiana Harbor steel mill in East Chicago.

The company press release noted that it has decided to idle the #4 blast furnace at the mill, in response to the impacts caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. The furnace capacity is estimated at around 2.73 million short tons per year. It expects to bring the furnace back online by May 11^th, based on current estimates. However, the actual restart of furnace operations is subject to change, depending on the assessment of evolving market conditions at that time.

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Meantime, the officials belonging to the United Steelworkers union clarified that a significant number of workers will be put in a general labor pool, which in turn will ensure continuation of work in new responsibilities while the blast furnace is out of operations. The company has been offering voluntary layoffs at the plant. The number of layoffs is expected to grow in the upcoming weeks they said. Around 140 workers face lay off threat at the former Inland Steel Mill in East Chicago.

The closure of automotive plants across the country since mid-March this year has badly impacted the demand for steel.