Minister for Trade and Industry visits U. S. Steel Kosice

On Friday, July 20, the Minister for Trade and Industry of the Slovak Republic Tomas Malatinsky visited U. S. Steel Kosice as part of his working trip to Eastern Slovakia, accompanied by Ivan Pesout, Director General Strategy and Miroslav Jarabek, Director Energy and Raw Materials Policy. He met U. S. Steel Kosice President David J. Rintoul, VP Technology Vladimir Jacko, VP Management Services and Administration Elena Petraskova and other representatives of the Kosice steelworks at the morning meeting, and they toured the plant with stops at the Power Plant, the Hot Strip Mill, and Galvanizing Line No. 3 later on.
The discussion with Minister Malatinsky was very open and fruitful. As a former representative of an employers' organization he understands well the challenges that Slovak industry has to meet to stay competitive. The Minister talked mainly about the government steps affecting the entrepreneurial environment, and stressed that the Slovak government cares about balanced relations with employers. President Rintoul provided a short overview of USSK operations and informed the guests about the biggest investment projects at U. S. Steel Kosice. He also pointed out the main concerns connected with charges for electrical energy and waste storage, as well as costs due to other environmental requirements directed by the EU, seriously affecting competiveness in the steelmaking sector.

United States Steel Corporation reports 2012 second quarter results

On July 31, 2012 United States Steel Corporation reported second quarter 2012 net income of $101 million, compared to a first quarter 2012 net loss of $219 million, and second quarter 2011 net income of $222 million.
While the economic conditions in Europe remained challenging, second quarter results for our European segment improved significantly compared to the first quarter. Average realized prices increased due to higher spot market and quarterly contract prices. Operating costs decreased in the second quarter as a result of lower raw materials and energy costs. U. S. Steel Kosice shipments and utilization rates remained in line with the first quarter as modest end user increases in demand were offset by weaker spot market sales. The restocking that drove first quarter spot market sales moderated as service centers and distributors reduced purchases to match real demand. Additionally, first quarter results included a $17 million operating loss from our former Serbian operations.

USSK President meets Ocel vychodu team

Ocel vychodu was successful again earlier this year in the Corporate Medium of the Year 2011 competition, gaining the prestigious award in the Corporate Newspaper category for the fourth time in succession ahead of other similar participating publications from all over Slovakia, and at the same time we were given the jury's special prize for best content. Now the work of the editorial team of Ocel vychodu has been acknowledged by U. S. Steel Kosice President David J. Rintoul. At a meeting last week he congratulated the company newspaper team on their success, emphasizing in doing so that the paper plays an important role in keeping the local workforce informed, maintaining the sense of belonging of people in the company, and outside it as well.

New traffic playground in Velky Saris thanks to grant program

Thanks to the "Together for the Region" grant program, organized every year by U. S. Steel Kosice in cooperation with the Carpathian Foundation, a new traffic playground was recently created in the grounds of the A.Sladkovica Street Nursery School in the village of Velky Saris near Presov. This project, which aims primarily to teach pre-school age children how to behave in relation to road traffic, is all to the credit of the members of the Detom Sarisa (For the Children of Saris) civic association. Work on building the playground was shared by more than 300 volunteers, with U. S. Steel Kosice employees represented among them. The traffic playround will be officially brought into use on September 11 this year.