U.S. Steel will restart the No. 1 electric-weld pipe mill at Lone Star Tubular Operations in Lone Star, Texas. The company anticipates hiring 140 new employees. The No. 1 mill, which was permanently idled in 2016 due to challenging market conditions for tubular products, has an annual capacity of approximately 400,000 tons. It will provide full-body normalized electric-welded pipe in a size range of 7-16 inches outside diameter for customers across the U.S. The restart process will begin immediately and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019.

In other company news, U.S. Steel Košice will build a new non-grain oriented (NGO) electrical steel line n Košice, Slovakia. The line, a $130 million investment, will have an annual capacity of approximately 100,000 metric tons of sophisticated silicon grades of NGO electrical steels to support increased demand in vehicles and generators. Construction will begin in mid-2019, and the line is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2020.