With an estimated 1,000 Algoma Steel employees facing layoffs later this month, the company’s president Rajat Marwah today reassured his workforce of Algoma’s ongoing commitment to them.

Last night, the Sault steelmaker announced it lost almost a billion dollars in 2025.

The following are excerpts from Marwah’s comments during a conference call this morning with institutional investors:

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“2025 was the most challenging year in recent memory for Canadian steel producers. The 50-per-cent U.S. Section 232 tariff dismantled our cross-border business model that had defined this industry for decades, flooded the Canadian market with excess supply and forced every producer to fundamentally adjust how they operate.

“We were not immune to those pressures, and our financial results this year reflects that reality.

“But what I’m most proud of is how this organization responded. We did not wait for conditions to improve.

“We were compelled to make difficult decisions, accelerating the wind-down of our blast furnace and coke oven operations ahead of our original timeline, pivoting our commercial strategy towards the Canadian market and securing the financial resources to execute our transformation without compromising our future.

“Those were not easy calls, and they required conviction, speed and coordination across every part of this business.

“None of this came without real human cost. The accelerated transition required us to wind down our blast furnace and coke oven operations earlier than planned, and that meant issuing layoff notices to approximately 1,000 of our colleagues effective later this month.

“I want to be correct about this. Those are not just numbers. They are people who help build this company.

“We have worked with our unions and government resources to put mitigation programs in place. And I’m committed to the view that this is not the end of the story for Algoma’s workforce.

“We are actively exploring product diversification initiatives to expand our footprint and support Canadian industrial policy. And we applaud the Canadian and Ontario governments for the measures they have taken supporting the Canadian steel industry.

“The result is a fundamentally different Algoma. Our EAF [electric arc furnace] is running around the clock, performing as designed and producing Volta, our sustainable, low-carbon steel brand at scale.

“This is the sustainable steel this company has invested years and nearly a billion dollars to bring to life.

“We are Canada’s only producer of discrete plate with a modernized plate mill, a purpose-built low carbon steelmaking platform and creating $500 million in government-backed liquidity to support our next phase of growth.

“Defence and shipbuilding demand for our plate product is real and growing.

“We are already shipping [Team Vigilance] shipbuilders for the Polar Max program and the Hanwha Ocean memorandum of understanding opens a further compelling path into Canada’s defence and industrial supply chain.

“We enter 2026 not defined by the headwinds we face, but by the ground we gained while facing them.

“The foundation for long-term value creation is in place, and I’m extremely confident in the direction of this company

“To our employees, what you accomplished in 2025 was extraordinary.

“You navigated a period of profound uncertainty and changed with professionalism, dedication and resilience, and you did so while keeping safety at the forefront every single day.

“I look forward to building on what we have started together.”