US Steel to restart Illinois blast furnace

United States Steel Corp., a Pittsburgh-based business unit of Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. (NSC), says it has initiated a process to restart the operation of one of two blast furnaces located at its Granite City, Illinois, complex.

The company says the restart has been driven by customer demand and as part of its “ordinary course of business planning” for 2026.

“After several months of carefully analyzing customer demand, we made the decision to restart a blast furnace,” says David B. Burritt, president and CEO of U. S. Steel. “Steel remains a highly competitive and highly cyclical industry, but we are confident in our ability to safely and profitably operate the mill to meet 2026 demand.”

Although blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) mills like the one in Granite City do not melt as much as scrap by percentage compared with an electric arc furnace (EAF) mill, the restarted furnace near St. Louis nonetheless may melt from 10 to 15 percent recycled material as feedstock.

Although both of its blast furnaces have been idled during the past two years, steel rolling and finishing activity has continued on other parts of the Granite City property—although those activities appeared to be in danger because of the NSC purchase of U.S. Steel.

Heading into 2026, however, Burritt says NSC and U.S. Steel are gearing up to revive hot metal operations at the Illinois site. “We look forward to partnering with all stakeholders, including the United Steelworkers [union] and elected officials, to ensure a safe and efficient start up and to discuss support for Granite City Works,” says the executive.

Regarding market conditions, the implementation of several types of tariffs on imported steel this year have helped the U.S. be one of just three nations among the largest 10 steel producers to make more steel in 2025 compared with 2024.

Through nearly 11 full months, the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) says year-to-date steel production in the U.S. of nearly 82.4 million tons is up 3.3 percent compared with the less than 79.5 million tons made in the same time frame in 2024.