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Welded Tube of Canada to Close Mill

07/30/2012 - Welded Tube of Canada Ltd. plans to shutter its South Carolina steel pipe and tube mill as it aims to consolidate production in Canada.

Welded Tube of Canada Ltd. plans to shutter its South Carolina steel pipe and tube mill as it aims to consolidate production in Canada, a company official told AMM.
The company will likely shut down Welded Tube-Berkeley of Huger, S.C., which makes hollow structural sections (HSS), sprinkler pipe and standard pip, in early September, said Jef Fy, senior manager of energy tubulars at the Concord, Ontario-based company.
"Much of the product that is made in Berkeley can be made in our pipe mills and tube mills in Concord. That market, which is basically standard and sprinkler pipe, has ben at best weak over the last few years, and as a result, it made no sense to continue to try to operate a facility there plus have facilities not at capacity (in Concord)," Fry said.
The move should allow Welded Tube of Canada to make more efficient use of its capacity in Concord, he said.
Most employees at the Huger facility will be laid off, he said. While Fry did not have an exact number, he said more than 50 would lose their jobs.
Some equipment will be moved from the South Carolina facility to Concord and some will be sold, he added.
Welded Tube's South Carolina facility, which is adjacent to a Nucor Corp. plant, makes hot rolled black tubing from 0.875 inches square through three inches square and rounds from 1.25 inch in outside diameter through four inches in outside diameter in wall thicknesses of 0.065 to 0.225 inches, according to the company's website.
Its products include HSS, fire-protection sprinkler pipe, and A53 grade A and B material.