Steel Products Prices North America
March 10, 2019
U.S. Raw Steel Production Starts Strong in 2019
Written by Brett Linton
Total raw steel production for the month of January rose to 8,286,886 net tons, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. This is one of the higher levels seen over the last few years. Broken down by production method, 5,717,191 tons (69.0 percent) were produced by electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and 2,569,695 tons (31.0 percent) were produced by blast furnaces.
January production was 44,297 tons or 0.5 percent higher than December, and 691,263 tons or 9.1 percent higher than the same month one year ago. AISI’s monthly estimates are different than the weekly estimates we report each Tuesday; the monthly estimates are based on over 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting versus only 50 percent reporting for the weekly estimates.
The mill capacity utilization rate for January averaged 80.4 percent, up from 79.4 percent in December, and up from 73.6 percent one year ago. This is the fourth highest utilization rate seen in SMU’s nine-year history.
The chart below shows total monthly steel production (blue) broken down by electric arc furnace production (green) and blast furnace production (red). January’s EAF production level is the second highest in SMU’s limited history.
SMU Note: Interactive versions of the raw steel production graphics above can be seen in the Analysis section of our website here. If you need assistance logging into or navigating the website, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
