EVRAZ to suspend operations in Claymont steel mill

CLAYMONT (Scrap Monster) : Russian steel giant EVRAZ has decided to suspend operations at the 93-year old Claymont, Delaware steel mill. The company has cited weak product demand and oversupply situation as the reasons for the shut down.

According to the company spokesperson, a small team will be retained towards site maintenance and supervision of shifting activities. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) has been issued to all the remaining employees of the steel mill. Over the next two months, all existing products will be relocated to other locations. The work done at Claymont mill will be shifted to the company’s Oregon and Canada facilities.

The company would consider all options to restart operations at the mill once the market signals any sign of improvement.

It should be noted that the company had been downsizing ever since steel prices started falling from the 2011 highs. It had decided to idle its Italian plant and sell its plants in South Africa and the Czech Republic.

EVRAZ is a vertically integrated steel, mining and vanadium business with operations in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy and South Africa. EVRAZ is among the top 20 steel producers in the world based on crude steel production of 15,9 million tonnes in 2012. The company's consolidated revenues for the year ended 31 December 2012 were US$14,726 million, and consolidated EBITDA amounted to US$2,012 million.