Posted: 1:45 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, 2015

AK Steel to idle Kentucky steel mill

By  http://www.journal-news.com/staff/chelsey-levingston/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer

Butler County steelmaker AK Steel announced Friday plans to temporarily idle some operations of its Ashland Works steel mill in Kentucky due to unfair trade concerns.

The blast furnace and related steelmaking operations at the facility will stop operations but AK Steel said it does not intend to idle the hot-dip galvanizing line that primarily services automotive customers.

AK Steel has appropriate steelmaking capacity at its other plants to meet customer requirements and does not expect any interruptions in shipments to its customers, according to the company.

“We are taking this necessary step due to the onslaught of what we believe are unfairly traded imports of carbon steel that have been flooding our shores. These imports have substantially reduced order intake rates, production rates, shipment volumes and selling prices,” said James Wainscott, chairman, president and chief executive officer of AK Steel, in a written statement. “We will continue to closely monitor market conditions and run our overall operations as efficiently as possible to continue to meet our customers’ needs.”

West Chester Twp. based AK Steel operates eight steel plants including the Ashland site and Middletown Works.

We will update this story with more information.