Republic Poised to Restart Idled Lorain Operation
By
Metal Center News Staff on
Mar 14, 2018
The announcement of steel tariffs by President Trump has Republic Steel ready to resume production at its idled facility in Lorain, Ohio. The company says it is positioned to restart the operation, including its idled electric arc furnace, casters and rolling mills, on short notice.
Republic is prepared to respond quickly to an anticipated uptick in demand across the nation. Republic currently has open capacity at its Canton melt shop and would restart Lorain to provide more than a million tons of new production capacity to support the SBQ bar and coil and seamless tube round markets, the company says. Republic anticipates that it would take a few months to hire and train employees and restart its idled equipment.
"Republic is more than prepared to support market demand that has been previously supplied by imports" says Jaime Vigil, President and CEO. “We maintained our Lorain facility while it's been idled waiting for the opportunity to restart and it appears that time is finally here."
The Lorain facility was idled in January of 2016. A decline in the energy market and import pressure were cited as the reasons for the closure.