Steel Products Prices North America

January 2017 Raw Steel Production at 7.7 Million Tons

Written by Brett Linton

March 2, 2017

The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final U.S. raw steel production estimates for the month of January 2017. The monthly estimates are different than the weekly estimates we report in our Tuesday issues; the AISI bases the monthly estimates on over 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. only 50 percent for the weekly estimates.

Total raw steel production for the month of January was reported to be 7,688,725 net tons with 5,219,837 tons being produced by electric arc furnaces (EAF) and 2,468,888 tons produced by blast furnaces. January raw steel production was reported to be 571,145 tons or 8.0 percent higher than the previous month and 571,948 tons or 8.0 percent higher than the same month last year.

This is the highest monthly production figure since May 2016 when monthly production was 7,693,546 tons.

The capacity utilization rate for the month of January 2017 was reported to be 73.3 percent, up from 67.8 percent in December and up from 68.7 percent reported in January 2016.

This is the highest monthly capacity utilization rate since June 2016 when it was 75.1 percent.

SMU Note: An interactive graphic of our raw steel production history can be seen in the Analysis section of our website here. If you need help logging into the website or navigating through it, please contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or 800-432-3475.

Brett Linton

Brett Linton is a senior analyst for Steel Market Update, where he began his career. Linton has been in the steel industry since 2010. He has held roles as a category manager and strategic insights director at Reibus before returning to SMU in 2024. He is a graduate of The University of North Georgia with a degree in Finance and Accounting. Brett can be reached at brett@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-314-0179.

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