Portland-based recycled metal exporter Schnitzer Steel restarted production at Cascade Steel, its electric arc furnace (EAF) rolling mills in McMinnville, OR this week.
The steel manufacturer also plans to acquire Columbus Recycling that has locations in the Southeast US.
Schnitzer Steel’s Cascade facility resumed production after restoring the mills’ property and melt shop equipment that was consumed or damaged from a fire it endured in May 2021.
Operations have restarted earlier than planned and orders are being received for finished steel products per the rolling schedule.
The site will likely achieve a reduced number of sales before the end of August when Schnitzer’s fiscal year closes. Cascade Steel’s finished steel sales volume reached 505,000nt (458,128mt) in fiscal 2020.
Columbus Recycling
Schnitzer will purchase eight ferrous and non-ferrous operating sites in the Southeast, from Columbus Recycling, including facilities in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The deal is set to close during Schnitzer’s Q1 of the fiscal year 2022.
Columbus Recycling purchases then processes scrap metal to sell the recycled products to local foundries and steel mills and will merge with nine of Schnitzer’s current sites in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.
The purchased operations will add recycling products and services in the Southeast, where considerable growth in EAF steelmaking capacity is expected over the next several years.
Columbus held an annual sales volume of about 300,000nt of ferrous material in the twelve-month period through May 2021, which will boost Schnitzer’s ferrous volumes by about 7pc on a pro forma basis over the same period.
Q4 results
The company will release preliminary consolidated financial results for its fiscal Q4 2021 during H2 of September, including a financial impact update on the steel plant melt shop fire.