Steel Products Prices North America

U.S. Raw Steel Production Slips in February

Written by Brett Linton

April 14, 2019

Total raw steel production for the month of February fell to 7,667,664 net tons, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. This is the lowest monthly production level seen since April 2018 when it was 7,630,135 tons. Broken down by production method, 5,305,123 tons (69.2 percent) were produced by electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and 2,362,541 tons (30.8 percent) were produced by blast furnaces.

February production was 619,222 tons or 7.5 percent lower than January, but 401,309 tons or 5.5 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 February averaged 82.4 percent, up from 80.4 percent in January, and up from 77.9 percent one year ago. This is the highest utilization rate seen in SMU’s nine-year history, surpassing the November 2018 high of 81.2 percent. However, February data can be misleading due to the shorter month; the total annual capacity estimate based on February data is calculated out to 111,665,010 net tons, while it was closer to 124 million tons when calculated from January and December figures. Therefore, we urge our readers to take February’s high utilization rate with a grain of salt.

The chart below shows total monthly steel production (blue) broken down by electric arc furnace production (green) and blast furnace production (red).

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.

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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