US tinplate producer Cleveland-Cliffs announced on 22 July it will reopen its idled Weirton tinplate mill as an electrical distribution transformer plant. The facility closed in April 2024 following an International Trade Commission ruling on import tariffs.
In August 2023, Cleveland-Cliffs and the United Steelworkers (USW) union petitioned the US government for anti-dumping duties against eight countries and stronger duties against China, arguing the market was being flooded with foreign-produced tinplate steel. US regulators imposed 300% import tariffs, which were subsequently rejected by the International Trade Commission, resulting in the announcement that Weirton would cease production indefinitely.
The changes, backed by $150 million in capital investment, including a $50 million forgivable loan from the Department of Economic Development, involve repurposing the existing warehouse for production of these transformers, providing reemployment opportunities for 600 USW-represented workers.
Announcing the company’s new plans, Cleveland-Cliffs’ Chairman, President, and CEO, Lourenco Goncalves emphasised the criticality of distribution transformers, and thanked West Virginia Governor Jim Justice for the loan extended to the company by the Department of Economic Development.
The company hopes the new facility will generate additional demand for domestically produced Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (GOES), which is a key component in transformers. At present, Cleveland-Cliffs is the only US producer of GOES.
In a separate statement on the company’s financial results and its acquisition of Canadian steel company Stelco, Mr Goncalves commented that Cleveland-Cliffs’ “recent growth announcements, both through M&A and downstream expansion, are clear examples that we are still in the early stages of the new Cleveland-Cliffs that was born in 2020 when we became a steel company”.
