NEW YORK - United States Steel Corporation, a leading integrated steel producer and Fortune 200 company, Monday announced plans to permanently close its blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations, along with most of the flat-rolled finishing operations at Fairfield Works in Alabama, a move that will affect 1,100 jobs.

"We have made some difficult decisions over the last year as part of our portfolio optimization," said Mario Longhi, U S Steel President and CEO, in a statement.

"We have determined that the permanent shut-down of the Fairfield Works blast furnace, steelmaking and most of the finishing operations is necessary to improve the overall efficiency and cost structure of our flat-rolled segment."

The blast furnace and other associated steelmaking operations at Fairfield Works will cease operations around November 17, the company stated

The facilities that would permanently close include the hot strip mill, the pickle line, cold mill, annealing facility and stretch and temper line.

The slab and rounds casters, the 5 coating line and the Double G hot-dip galvanizing joint venture in nearby Jackson, Mississippi,, would however continue to operate.

The decision to downsize operations will not impact Fairfield Tubular Operations or the electric arc furnace (EAF) construction project, the company stated.

Hit by weakening global steel demand and impact of a stronger dollar on exports, the US Steel isn't the only steel company looking to scale back production. In June, the company had temporarily restarted the blast furnace.

In July, the company had optimistically projected that the market conditions could improve in the second half of the year as supply chain inventories rebalance, primarily in flat-rolled markets.

But later in an earnings call last month, Longhi had announced plans to idle the blast furnace again in August.

The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, headquartered US Steel has major production operations in the United States and Central Europe and an annual raw steelmaking capability of 24.4 million net tons.

The company Monday stressed that its decision for closure of the blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations was "initiated after careful market analysis of the company's current and long-term global operational footprint competitiveness".

The construction of the EAF at Fairfield Works in place of the facility's existing blast furnace was included in that analysis.