United Kingdom-based Liberty Steel is reportedly idling production for 90 days at its steel rod mill in Georgetown, South Carolina. The melt shop at the Georgetown location has not been active since September 2019, though a new electric arc furnace (EAF) may be installed in the future.
An April 22 news item by South Carolina-based Myrtle Beach Online says wire drawing operations at the Liberty site are “shutting down for at least three months,” with the company reportedly citing a drop in demand for its products caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Maintenance staff will remain on-site in Georgetown, but some 130 employees and contractors will be affected, according to the website. Liberty indicates it will continue to offer steel wire to its customers through its Peoria, Illinois, mill, which was purchased from Keystone Consolidated Industries in 2018.
The acquisition of new melt shop technology for the Georgetown mill was announced by Liberty in October 2019. In February of 2020, a Charleston, South Carolina, newspaper reported on legal actions between Liberty and a technology supplier that had interrupted the project.
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