ArcelorMittal is planning to restart a blast furnace and steel-producing operation at Indiana Harbor Works in East Chicago, company and union officials confirmed Thursday.
The steelmaker is bringing back online the No. 4 blast furnace and No. 3 steel-producing shop. The company said in a statement the restarts are in response to improving market demand.
Neither the company or union disclosed a timeline for the project or number of employees who would be rehired.
Calling the restart "good news," Tom Tyrka, president of United Steelworkers Local 1011, said the company notified him last week of its intentions.
"It's good news for our people and it's good news for our future," Tyrka said.
The union is in the process of reaching employees who worked in that part of Indiana Harbor because some may have left the company or started working in other production areas, he said.
ArcelorMittal indicated it wanted to idle iron-making operations on the west side of Indiana Harbor in May because of a lack of demand in an "extraordinary economic environment."
At the time, Tyrka said about 750 employees would be affected by the idling of the No. 4 blast furnace. Local 1011 represents a portion of production and maintenance employees at Indiana Harbor.
ArcelorMittal isn't the only steelmaker to ramp up raw steel production capacity. New York-based steel analyst Charles Bradford said companies such as United States Steel Corp. and OAO Severstal are also bringing back capacity this year.
Raw steel capacity utilization for U.S. steel mills was estimated to be 65.6 percent during the week ending Jan. 23, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Last week's production level is up more than 50 percent from the same time in 2009.
Although there is marked improvement, Bradford said he's worried because a few of the steelmakers to report their earnings already gave less-than-stellar outlooks for 2010.
"(ArcelorMittal) were the first to shut down things and they're being a bit more conservative to where the market is going to go," Bradford said.
Bradford also anticipates domestic competition to increase when ThyssenKrupp's steel and stainless steel processing facility in Alabama opens in the second quarter.
ArcelorMittal will release its fourth-quarter earnings and full-year results Feb. 10.
