“This is a result of continued challenging global market conditions including fluctuating oil prices, reduced rig counts and associated inventory overhang, depressed steel prices and unfairly traded imports, which continue to have a significant impact on the business,” U. S. Steel officials said in a statement.  

“The company will be working closely with its customers through this transition,” the company said.

U. S. Steel said in October put approximately Granite City 2,000 employees on notice that it was considering a temporary shut down on account of market conditions.

Granite City principally supplies flat steel to the company’s Lone Star tubular division in Texas.

The steel works has two blast furnaces and finishing operations that include a hot strip mill, a pickling line, a four-strand cold reduction mill and hot-dip galvanizing lines, according to the The Times of Northwest Indiana newspaper.

A company spokeswoman told the newspaper that there is no timetable for opening the plant.