Manufacturing News
October 21, 2026
October 21, 2026 · Porter County · Story 3 of 5
Cleveland-Cliffs Delays Burns Harbor Reline, Posts Strongest Quarter in Three Years
Cleveland-Cliffs reported Q3 revenue of $5.6 billion, up 18.5% year over year, and net income of $165 million against a $234 million loss a year ago. CFO Celso Goncalves credited stronger automotive shipments and falling unit costs, and the company pushed the blast furnace reline at its Burns Harbor, Porter County plant from mid-2027 to April 2028 to capture the current pricing environment. That delay preserves roughly 500,000 tons of 2027 production, worth about $588 million at Q3's $1,177-per-ton average price. CEO Lourenco Goncalves credited enforcement of Section 232 tariffs, 50% on steel, aluminum, and copper, for the turnaround.
The gap worth watching: EAF rivals Nucor and Steel Dynamics posted record shipments and EBITDA a full quarter before Cliffs did, and a $15 billion EAF greenfield mill planned for Iowa around 2030 is a longer-run capacity threat that Cliffs' $7.7 billion debt load limits its ability to counter.
- Impact
- The Burns Harbor delay isn't just good news: it preserves roughly 500,000 tons of 2027 production worth about $588 million at Q3's $1,177/ton average price, a material piece of Cliffs' 2027 EBITDA target. But Cliffs' integrated blast-furnace model is still playing catch-up to EAF rivals Nucor and Steel Dynamics, which posted record shipments and EBITDA a full quarter earlier, and a $15 billion EAF greenfield mill planned for Iowa around 2030 is a longer-run capacity threat that Cliffs' $7.7 billion debt load limits its ability to counter.
- Watch
- Cliffs' Jan. 1, 2027 price-fixed contract resets, which management says should add more than $1 billion to 2027 EBITDA, and any restart decision on the idled Dearborn blast furnace tied to GM and Ford reshoring commitments.
- For the huddle
Have we locked in our 2027 flat-rolled contracts at current index-linked prices, and does our supply plan assume Dearborn's 2-million-ton idled capacity stays offline?
Sources
- Cleveland-Cliffs posts ‘strongest’ quarter in three years: CFO · manufacturingdive.com
Earlier coverage
- Urschel Laboratories Names Tim Crammer President in Chesterton
- Contractor Killed Operating Pot Hauler at Burns Harbor
- Cleveland-Cliffs: Fatality, Ontario Idling, and Indiana Workers Left on Contract Extensions
- Derecho and NIPSCO Outage Cost Konrady Plastics a Month of Overtime
- Burns Harbor Fatality: What the Multi-Employer OSHA Doctrine Means for Your Plant
From the brief, October 21, 2026
- Rolls-Royce Completes $1 Billion Indianapolis Defense Engine Campus
- Indiana Signs Nuclear MOU for Up to 6 GW of CANDU Reactors
- Cleveland-Cliffs Delays Burns Harbor Reline, Posts Strongest Quarter in Three Years
- Sen. Banks' Fort Wayne Defense Summit Puts Contested Contracts on Stage
- Gov. Braun's Power Up Indiana Workforce Push Faces a Funding and Timing Gap
This story
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