U.S. Steel Ramping Up Production

Aerial photo of U.S. Steel's Gary Works (photo courtesy: The Times of Northwest Indiana)

In what appears to be a resurgence in the auto industry, Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) has restarted another blast furnace at Gary Works.

Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report the company is bringing the No. 8 blast furnace back online August 1.

The steelmaker idled blast furnaces as many auto plants shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which are some of the largest end-users of steel products.

The publication says U.S. Steel resume production on its No. 6 blast furnace earlier this month.

“As a major supplier of steel for the auto industry, Gary Works is restoring this capacity to satisfy the very strong demand we are seeing from key contract customers with the reemergence of the auto industry,” said U.S. Steel spokesperson Meghan Cox. “This action also supports the continued demand we are experiencing from appliances, packaging and construction.”

The Times reports as many as 3,800 employees faced temporary layoffs at Gary Works and the Midwest plant in Portage after the pandemic spread worldwide.