ArcelorMittal Lengthy Merchandise
says it’s closing its wire-drawing mill in Hamilton, probably affecting greater than 150 folks.
The choice introduced on Wednesday comes after the USA doubled its tariffs on overseas
metal
final week to 50 per cent, which has raised widespread considerations concerning the viability of Canada’s metal sector because it sells lots of its merchandise into the U.S. market.
An organization spokesman didn’t reply to requests for remark, however the firm stated in a press launch that its wire-drawing actions shall be “
totally concentrated” at its facility in
Montreal.
“We simply discovered this morning,” Mike Hnatjuk, president of United Steelworkers Native 5328, stated. “They’re saying it to the shifts coming in that they’re closing it on the finish of the month.”
He stated the union would start negotiations subsequent week with the corporate over the closure, but it surely was not clear if the affected staff could be let go or provided new positions in Montreal.
ArcelorMittal Lengthy Merchandise has the identical father or mother firm as ArcelorMittal Dofasco, Canada’s largest producer of flat-rolled metal, however the two function independently.
Hnatjuk stated the corporate has lengthy specialised in a wide range of wire merchandise — equivalent to cables for bridges, and rebar-like merchandise — however enterprise has slowly declined in current many years as one product after one other misplaced market share.
He blamed China for flooding the market with low cost metal merchandise that make it uneconomical to provide in Canada.
Final month, the Group for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD) additionally took intention at China, saying its metal subsidization fee is greater than 10 instances larger than the speed in a mean OECD nation.
“Chinese language metal exports have greater than doubled since 2020, reaching a document stage of 118 million tonnes in 2024,”
. “This surge has disrupted metal markets in OECD economies, resulting in a fivefold improve in anti-dumping measures since 2023.”
Hnatjuk stated ArcelorMittal Lengthy Merchandise informed him that the mill in Hamilton has been shedding greater than US$2.6 million yearly for the previous 5 years. In current months, he stated about 25 per cent of the workforce had been laid off.
“They stated even with out these tariffs that this might have occurred,” Hnatjuk stated. “I take it because the tariffs have been just like the nail within the coffin.”
The announcement comes sooner or later after Ron Bedard, chief government of ArcelorMittal Dofasco — a distinct division of the identical firm that has 5,000 staff in Hamilton alone — stated he had gotten “flat, sloppy and lazy” by way of permitting U.S. gross sales to gas his firm’s progress.
He additionally stated he could be focusing extra on the Canadian market sooner or later, even when U.S. tariffs have been eradicated. The feedback got here whereas talking on the Automotive Elements Producers Affiliation convention in Vaughn, Ont., on Tuesday and he lavished reward on his staff.
“So lots of our staff are the one breadwinner within the house, and so they’re among the highest-paid industrial staff in Canada,” he stated. “However they fear concerning the stability of our business, and so we’re doing the whole lot we will, with each determination … to guarantee that we’re placing folks first.”
Bedard stated he has been assembly frequently with Mélanie Joly, the federal minister of business, and Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of financial improvement — each of whom attended the convention.
Final week, the Canadian Metal Producers Affiliation, an business lobbying group, referred to as for pressing motion in response to the elevated U.S. metal tariffs.
Canadian companies must concentrate on the homegrown market, says metal CEO
Trump doubles tariffs on metal and aluminum
Eddie Hutchinson, a spokesman for the CSPA, stated his group desires the Canadian authorities to reinstate retaliatory tariffs on U.S. metal on the new 50 per cent stage.
He stated the CSPA additionally desires Canada to lift tariffs on numerous different nations’ metal “to stem the move of unfairly traded metal from coming into Canada and cannibalizing our business.”
• E mail: gfriedman@postmedia.com
Bookmark our web site and assist our journalism: Don’t miss the enterprise information it’s good to know — add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and join our newsletters right here.
