Topic: Youngstown-Warren Steel Industry on the rebound?

[buildingcincinnati]

Inquiries indicate plan to open mill Officials: CSC site under consideration
Interest in the mill includes hiring up to 100 workers.
By DON SHILLING

Someone has approached the Trumbull County Planning Commission about starting a steel-making operation in the former CSC Ltd. mill.  The questions asked indicate that the prospective operator is more than just inquiring and has definite plans, said Mark Zigmont, a county planner.

"I'm pretty sure this is going to go forward," he said.  Between 80 and 100 jobs to start were discussed, he said.  Mike Settles, a spokesman for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, said the agency's Twinsburg office received a call recently from someone asking what permits would be needed to start a steel-related operation at the site.

Read full article here:
http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/306904757421823.php

[the pope]

holy f*ck, copperweld coming back to life (at least in another form)

between them and delphi closing, that kinda was the last straws of warren's economy

[buildingcincinnati]

Mill plans forge ahead
By LARRY RINGLER Tribune Chronicle

The company looking to reopen the CSC Ltd. steel melt shop could start taking applications for mechanics and electricians after the next two weeks, a company official said Friday.

Scott Elliott, who said he was hired to help set up American Steel & Alloys LLC to melt steel into billets, also said the new company has no links to a Marietta company he runs that was found in violation of federal 401(k) retirement law in 2004.

Read full article here:
http://www.tribunechronicle.com/news/story/017202006_new01mill07.asp

[the pope]

well i appreciate it grassy

[KJP]

Post news and discussion about the general condition of Ohio's steel industry, including historical stuff and prospects for the future.

Here's an article from today's PD to get the thread started. There's some cool photos at the link below, but the photos (or the article) usually don't stay for more than a year...

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/05/area_steel_mills_are_hot_again.html

Area steel mills are hot again, thanks to demand, dollar, consolidation
Posted by Peter Krouse
May 18, 2008

The last time the U.S. economy was in or near a recession, the U.S. steel industry was tanking, too.
 
Not this time around.

U.S. steelmakers are full sail amid the doldrums. That's good news for Northeast Ohio, where several mills churn out steel for such diverse products as oil wells, farm tractors and drainage culverts.

.......

[KJP]

Oil prices could be having some positive effects. Such as, could the steel industry in America be on track for a rebound? It already is, but more may be coming...

See:

http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public/download/smay08.pdf

[KJP]

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,16179.0.html

Thomson Financial News
ArcelorMittal to hike prices paid by automotive industry by 60 pct
06.29.08, 1:14 PM ET

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - ArcelorMittal plans to hike prices paid by car makers by 60 percent in several steps over the coming weeks and months in response to surging raw material costs, auto motor und sport said in prerelease of a report to be published Thursday.

Automotives vice-president Jean-Luc Maurange told the magazine that he is optimistic car-makers will accept the price hikes.

The report said the steel-maker is now re-negotiating contracts concluded with the automobile industry to avoid 2009 price hikes being too steep.

ArcelorMittal supplies 23 percent of steel used by German car-makers, and says it has a 50 percent market share in European steel supplies to the automotive industry.

Meanwhile, Maurange said the segment is starting to feel a decline in steel demand due to the crisis at U.S. car-makers.

He said he expects volumes to stagnate during 2008, with sales still slightly growing due to higher prices.

frederik.richter@thomsonreuters.com

[sir2gees]

My Dad works at Mittal. He said they can’t make it fast enough. I can’t remember the stat, but he told me the Cleveland plant is one of the most efficient in the world.

[KJP]

Anyone know more about this? This job appears to have been posted in the past week......

http://www.sologig.com/freelancers/fl_projectdetails.aspx?id=1001979

Sr. Construction Manager/DirectorCompany:Whitaker Technical
Hourly Rate:Negotiable
Location:Youngstown, Ohio

Description
A Premier E&C Company with offices across the US is seeking a Sr. Construction Manager/Director for an 18 month project at a large steel mill in their OH location. The company is going through some MAJOR growth in several business areas of their company so this is an expansion opening!

Requirements
Position requires past management of projects 500M+, industrial project experience, experience working with unions, project experience with subcontracting work rather than hiring direct staff, and steel experience is HIGHLY preferred.  Salary will be DOE.

____________________

The same job also appears to be posted at:

http://jobview.monster.com/GetJob.aspx?JobID=76024014&WT.mc_n=FDJD

and at:

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=JRGCM&ff=21&APath=2.21.0.0.0&job_did=J8E0YN79DMGLFFWGZCF

[Sherman Cahal]

Any location specifics? Is this on an old steel mill site?

[MayDay]

^If it's in North Jackson near I-76 (per the article), my guess is that it will be on/near Bailey Road (which has a direct connection to I-76 which links to the Turnpike a few miles away), south of the Lordstown complex. There are a lot of distribution centers in that vicinity - and no, it's not on the former site of a mill.

[Sherman Cahal]

I checked out the Commerces' web-site, and there are several properties listed within an earshot of Interstate 76 at North Jackson at two parks, so I assume it is in one of those.

[Florida Guy]

I wish the mill could be built in the valley where the old ones were.

Or anywhere in Youngstown for that matter. That might as well be in Trumbull County.

Although I can't fault them if they selected this area based on its accessibility of high amounts of electricity (presumably because of its proximity to GM).

[CBC]

That is good news. 60 good paying jobs in the Mahoning Valley is a good thing no matter where they are at. It is unfortunate that this a greenfield though and not in the river valley.

This mill (or mini-mill) will  more closely resemble  a larger version of the Extrudex aluminum plant in N Jackson on the south side of Mahoning Avenue, than what most people think of when they hear Steel Mill.

This location makes a lot of sense. It  happens to be pretty much under a transmission line so it will be cheaper to hook up to the grid. And it is a the cross roads of I-76 and I-80, plus they may be able to get access to the railyard down the road behind GM.

[KJP]

Sounds like an electric arc furnace, which is what the old mills in the valley could/should have been retrofitted with 30-40 years ago to make them cost-competitive. Then it doesn't matter if the coal being used to fuel the blast furnace is high- or low-sulfur coal -- because coal isn't needed because there is no blast furnace. You couldn't build a traditional steel mill in Cleveland, or Youngstown or Pittsburgh these days because all three are already at various levels of air quality non-attainment. By using an electric arc furnace and the existing grid, this greatly helps in coming under the maximum emissions allowed in a given metro area.

Given the booming global growth of steel production in the last few years, there may be additional steel plants built. More plants with electric arc furnaces combined with some continuous casters and we could see a modest revival of steel in this part of the world.

But the days of the city-sized steel mill employing 5,000 workers is likely gone.

[Sherman Cahal]

^ It is.

Hell, AK Steel's Ashland Works had two blast furnaces: The Bellefonte (1940s) and the Amanda (1960s), the latter being one of the biggest in the world when it was completed. The Bellefonte was mothballed in the late 1990s and just dismantled down to the hearth -- the reason being that with the hearth in place, it could be rebuilt at a future date. By removing the hearth, under current EPA regulations, it could not be built today. Pig iron blast furnaces, while vastly more efficient in terms of output, belch out pollution and require a lot of natural resources.

[UrbanSurfin]

I don't like the property tax break for greenfield development. Nor should there be state money without strings to put a plant in the city. Ohio has had decades of policies that are biased against cities and in favor of destructive greenfield development (see the Brookings Institution/Greater Ohio study and conference on Restoring Ohio's Prosperity).

 http://www.brookings.edu/events/2008/0910_restoring_prosperity.aspx

Youngstown's mayor, Jay Williams, was at the Sept. 10 conference in Columbus and was one of the highlights as he offered several specific examples of how cities in general and Youngstown in particular are left behind by state funding.

[KJP]

^ It is.

Hell, AK Steel's Ashland Works had two blast furnaces: The Bellefonte (1940s) and the Amanda (1960s),

In Youngstown, Republic Steel's Haselton Works, Youngstown Sheet & Tube's Campbell Works, and United States Steel's Ohio Works each had four blast furnaces. Add to that J&L's Haselton plant, USS's McDonald castings plant, Republic's downtown plant, Republic's Warren District, Copperweld in Warren, and YS&T's Brier Hill Works, and you had a near-continuous string of steel mills for 20 miles along the Mahoning River from Warren to the Pennsylvania state line. Many of those mills ran 24/7, and I saw bits of pieces of its before the bottom fell out starting in 1977. I would have loved to have ridden on an Erie-Lackawanna/Pittsburgh & Lake Erie train at night through that area before the 1970s.

[Sherman Cahal]

^It would have been amazing to see the amazing complexes of heavy industry. Hell, in my hometown area, we had

Russell and Ashland, KY: AK Steel (then Armco Steel Ashland Works) and their coke plant;
New Boston and Portsmouth, OH: Detroit Steel and coke plant (closed ~1985) which had two blast furnaces and a LOT of modernization and upgrades in the late 1960s);
Ironton, OH: A very large tar and coke plant, a a sizable nickel facility (major rebuilding and upgrades in the 1970s, only to see it close a few years later);
Huntington, WV: Steel of West Virginia (downsized today) and many heavy industries.

Most of the heavy industry has simply died here. Same as Youngstown, but we had backups (Ashland Oil and their headquarters -- until that moved to Covington around 1998).

[CBC]

My grandfather grew up in the Briar Hill neighborhood in Youngstown, and he said that you knew times were tough if you could breathe and see the sky, because it meant the mills weren't running. It was both majestic and disgusting at the same time the amount of pollution that was pumped out of those mills. Personally I drive past the Mittal plant on 490 everyday and I am still mesmorized by the flare of a smokestack.

I believe the area where the new Republic facility is subject to tax sharing with Youngstown tied to the deal that ran city water out there. I could be wrong though. Shame on me for not knowing, I grew up right down the road from there.

[KJP]

Sorry to see it go, but I understand the reason. It's not likely anyone else has had any plans for it since the mid-1970s.....

[ink]

Sorry to see it go, but I understand the reason. It's not likely anyone else has had any plans for it since the mid-1970s.....

Perhaps it is appropriate, since its walls were the first to know of Black Monday.

[KJP]

Actually, the people who were first to know of Black Monday were at the Lykes Corp., a steamship company based in New Orleans. They bought YS&T in 1969 and bled it dry over the coming decade. And the building shown above wasn't YS&T's corporate headquarters, which had been located in suburban Boardman since 1950.

It is also possible, giving the timing that the Brier Hill office building shown above was closed before Black Monday (Black Monday was Sept. 19, 1977, but the article said the Brier Hill office building was closed 35 years ago). My guess is that there were some low-level payroll workers, safety inspectors and labor relations staff at the Brier Hill offices, which may have been consolidated and moved to the YS&T corporate offices in Boardman a few years prior to Black Monday. I remember reading that YS&T underwent a few hundred layoffs in about 1974, but I don't remember if those were steelworkers, office workers or both.

But I can say for certain that the Boardman headquarters was closed coincident with Black Monday and all YS&T offices moved to Chicago. I don't know if that's when the Brier Hill building was closed. YS&T's Brier Hill steel plant was closed in 1979, however. My guess is that the Brier Hill office building was shuttered during the 1974 layoffs, which were considered by pretty catastrophic at the time.

If they only knew what was yet to come.....

[KJP]

I suspect this purchase is anticipation that V&M Star Steel will select Youngstown for its $1 billion steel mill expansion.......

Metalico Buys Youngstown Iron & Metal
Dec. 21, 2009 7:14 a.m.

Youngstown Iron & Metal’s plant at 100 Division Street provides its neighbor and largest customer, V&M Star Steel, with scrap steel. The company’s huge auto shredder is supported by the ferrous and non-ferrous buying yard operated by Atlas Recycling at 1420 Burton St. SE in Warren.

Over the last two years, Youngstown Iron & Metal “averaged $50 million of annual revenue and sold an annual average of 105,000 gross tons of scrap steel and approximately 15 million pounds of non-ferrous products,” according to the sale announcement.

Metalico is a holding company founded in 1997. The publicly traded company operates 21 recycling facilities in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, and Mississippi and four lead fabricating plants in Alabama, Illinois, and California.

READ MORE AT:
http://www.business-journal.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=15325&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1711&hn=business-journal&he=.com

[KJP]

This is good news....

DECEMBER 30, 2009, 11:51 A.M. ET
Trade Panel Rules for U.S. Steelmakers Against Chinese Imports
By HENRY J. PULIZZI

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. International Trade Commission sided with U.S. steelmakers in a case over Chinese steel Wednesday, voting that U.S. industry has been damaged by a flood of imports of subsidized steel from China.

In its largest-ever steel case, the commission made an affirmative determination that imports of so-called oil country tubular goods from China have injured U.S. manufacturers. The commission will provide details of its vote later Wednesday.

The ruling, which will likely result in duties on future imports of Chinese steel pipes, adds more tension to the U.S.-China trade relationship. Ties between Washington and Beijing are already frayed by the Obama administration's imposition of duties on Chinese tire imports and China's criticism of U.S. moves as protectionist.

READ MORE AT:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126219101972610403.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

[CBC]

This is good news....

DECEMBER 30, 2009, 11:51 A.M. ET
Trade Panel Rules for U.S. Steelmakers Against Chinese Imports

That's great news!

[KJP]

The Trib's contribution to this historic ruling......

Duties a boon to steel mills
U.S. to set tariffs on some Chinese imports; local officials laud move

By RON SELAK JR. and LARRY RINGLER
Tribune Chronicle
POSTED: December 31, 2009

YOUNGSTOWN - The U.S. government is imposing new duties on Chinese steel pipe imports, a positive signal for steelworkers nationwide and locally toward convincing V&M Star Steel to select its Mahoning Valley facility for a nearly $1 billion expansion project.

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted Wednesday to impose duties between 10.36 percent and 15.78 percent on the pipes, which are mostly used in the oil and gas industries. Those duties are intended to offset the government subsidies that the U.S. government says China provides its steelmakers.

The case is the largest steel trade dispute in U.S. history and will affect about $2.8 billion worth of Chinese imports.

READ MORE AT:
http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/531655.html?nav=5021&showlayout=0

[KJP]

Ho hum, just another steelmaker seeking to build in the area -- again thanks to the Marcellus Basin gas boom. Brookfield is actually closer to Sharon, near the intersection of routes 82 and 7.....

$872K tax credit OK’d to lure steel-tube maker to Brookfield
Published: Tue, February 23, 2010 @ 12:06 a.m.By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BROOKFIELD — A tax credit worth $872,000 over nine years has been approved to encourage Ultra Premium Oilfield Services of Odessa, Texas, to invest $10 million in a vacant factory in Brookfield that would employ 120 people.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved the Job Creation Tax Credit on Monday in Columbus. If the project moves forward, Ultra Premium will make tubular steel products used in oil and natural-gas exploration there, the Ohio Department of Development says. The tax credit requires Ultra Premium to maintain operations for 11 years.

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, which worked on the project, said it expects an announcement on whether the project will move forward “in the very near future.”

READ MORE AT:
http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/feb/23/872k-tax-credit-ok8217d-to-lure-steel-tu/

[KJP]

A good, long article worth reading...
 
Domestic Steel Industry on the Rebound
May 13, 2010 7:02 a.m.
By Dan O'Brien

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – In an increasingly competitive global market, the domestic steel industry possesses significant advantages over companies that ship their products to the United States.

....Increased drilling in the shale was one factor in V&M Star's decision to pump $650 million into its Youngstown plant so it could produce OCGT pipe for the energy market.

Also, TMK-IPSCO recently cut the ribbon on its $10 million investment in Brookfield where that company intends to process pipe and tube for natural gas exploration.

..."Our two biggest concerns right now are availability and pricing," says Mark Marvin, president of Reinforcement Systems, a new company building a new plant in Warren. The project is expected to cost between $20 million and $25 million.

READ MORE AT:
http://business-journal.com/clients/business-journal/domestic-steel-industry-on-the-rebound-p16453.htm?twindow=Default&smenu=1&mad=No

[KJP]

This could also go in the Youngstown your "Marcellus tool box" thread but I'll keep it here for now....

President Obama's destination: A Youngstown-area steel plant expanding with stimulus help
By Stephen Koff, The Plain Dealer
May 14, 2010, 2:04PM

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will visit V&M Star in the Youngstown area on Tuesday, an opportunity to talk about economic recovery fueled at least partly by the economic stimulus bill passed last year. The trip was announced yesterday but the specific loation was not known until now.

V&M in February announced a $650 million expansion in Trumbull and Mahoning counties, a project that's supposed to create 350 jobs and keep 400 more. News of the V&M expansion was cheered by Gov. Ted Strickland in February, who credited Ohio's use of $20 million in stimulus money that helped pay for road improvements and the relocation of rail lines near the current V&M Star Steel Pipe Production Facility.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/05/president_obamas_destination_v.html

[KJP]

The only time presidents would visit Youngstown is when they were candidates, promising help but vanishing after they were elected. They didn't want to be associated with such a toxic political environment. But now, since presidents like to be associated with success....

Obama Shines Spotlight on Steel's Rebirth
May 19, 2010 7:02 a.m.
By Dan O'Brien

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- For Rob Fedor, there's never been a more exciting time in the 43 years he's worked in the steel plant that is today V&M Star.

It isn't just the visit of president Barack Obama to the mill Tuesday that fuels the steelworker's optimism. For the first time in years, Fedor says he senses a profound commitment from a company that wants to invest in the American worker and compete toe-to-toe with the rest of the world.

"I was here when this plant was still Youngstown Sheet and Tube," Fedor said as he waited with 150 co-workers to hear the president speak after Obama took a short tour of V&M Star's Youngstown plant. "I've seen everything -- I saw this plant go from 2,000 employees to 80. It's really something that's going on now."

What's going on is a complete reversal of fortune from the five decades of decline Fedor witnessed as the steel industry in the Mahoning Valley retrenched and shed 30,000 jobs.

READ MORE AT:
http://business-journal.com/clients/business-journal/obama-shines-spotlight-on-steels-rebirth-p16512.htm?twindow=Default&smenu=1&mad=No

[KJP]

BTW, the reason why those bids came in much higher was because the amount of earthmoving is much more extensive than first thought.

[KJP]

Niles Expanded Metals Ready to Expand
June 22, 2010 6:57 a.m.
By George Nelson

NILES, Ohio -- Niles Expanded Metals has been planning for growth for the past few years, and executives say they hope to be able to move forward soon -- perhaps in a month -- on an expansion.

William E. Phillips, chairman and CEO, and Bill Phillips Jr., president and chief operating officer, were reluctant to provide details Monday about new products or markets, as the company is still in the process of finalizing the paperwork and contracts, although the necessary equipment has already been purchased.

"I can't really go into detail about it but we are looking at a relatively large expansion that will bring some higher tech jobs here and some higher paying jobs here," Bill Phillips Jr. said.

READ MORE AT:
http://business-journal.com/clients/business-journal/niles-expanded-metals-ready-to-expand-p16774.htm?twindow=Default&smenu=1&mad=No

[JRC]

Campbell land eyed as site for new mill

Published: Wed, June 23, 2010 @ 12:09 a.m.
Plant would employ 700, company’s owner says

By Jeanne Starmack
starmack@vindy.com

CAMPBELL

A Pittsburgh-based company that owns 113 acres of industrial property in Campbell and Youngstown is planning to build a steel mill there.
...
Sherman International Corp. would like to build a mill for cold-rolling coils on the 40 acres it owns in Campbell, said company representatives.
...
The plan hinges on the city’s obtaining grants for the company to assess and then clean up the site.
...
If all goes as planned, Krinos said, the company would like to expand the mill onto its Youngstown property eventually, with the expectation of 3,500 jobs in all.

More: http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/jun/23/campbell-land-eyed-as-site-for-new-mill/

[KJP]

HOLY sh!t!!!