Steel Market Production Increases – Workers at Cascade Steel Rolling Mills in McMinnville, OR will return to work this Friday after going on strike beginning April 8. Negotiations regarding a new contract with the union are ongoing.

Steel Market Production Increases – Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group, began construction of a 500,000 tonne per year seamless pipe plant in Ansai County in central China’s Shaanxi province on April 17. The project is scheduled for completion in 2013.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Ukrainian steel producer Donetskstal has postponed the launch of its first EAF. The 1.5 million tonne per year capacity EAF had initially been due for commissioning in May and is now scheduled to launch in October 2012. The producer has just closed four open hearth furnaces ahead of schedule.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Egyptian bar and wire rod producer Beshay Steel has suspended production at its steelworks in Sadat City due to a strike by its workers there. The strike has idled 2 million tonne per year of finished steel capacity.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Taiwan’s China Steel Corp will halt production at its plate mill from late May until early June for 20 days of annual maintenance. The outage will result in 30,000 – 50,000 tonnes of production being lost.

Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market