Liberty Steel to Temporarily Halt Georgetown Steelworks Due To Coronavirus Pandemic

Liberty Steel Group, part of the GFG Aliance, has announced that it has decided to temporarily halt wire rod production at its Georgetown steelworks for three months after an assessment of market conditions in light of the coronavirus pandemic.The company will also put Georgetown steelworks on "care and maintenance mode" and temporarily lay off on redeploy about 130 employees working at the steelworks and contractors while some maintenance employees will be on staff during the closure. It is stated that unemployment insurance and state-based unemployment support will be available immediately to workers affected by these changes.

Chief executive officer of Liberty Steel USA, Gregory Jones said: "Since the outbreak of coronavirus we have seen demand for our products soften considerably and therefore we need to rebalance our production with forecast demand. This is a difficult decision which hasn't been taken lightly. A small number of employees will remain on site to ensure that the mill is fully maintained and we will re-evaluate the position in three months' time." He also added that the coronavirus outbreak has caused disruption across US industry and their customers are no exception.Liberty Steel will redirect customers' wire rod orders from Georgetown to Peoria steelworks in Ilinois during this period.