Steel Products Prices North America

May Raw Steel Production Strong at 8.3 Million Tons

Written by Brett Linton

July 18, 2019

Total U.S. raw steel production in the month of May rose 2.7 percent to 8,325,489 net tons, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. May production was at one of the higher levels in recent history, only surpassed by March 2019 and October 2018. Prior to those three months, the last time production topped that was in August 2014 at 8,546,303 tons.

Broken down by production method, 5,643,477 tons (67.8 percent) were produced by electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and 2,682,012 tons (32.2 percent) were produced by blast furnaces.

May production was 216,248 tons or 2.7 percent higher than April, and 319,400 tons or 4.0 percent higher than the same month one year ago. AISI’s monthly estimates are different than the weekly estimates SMU reports 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 May averaged 80.8 percent, down from 81.3 percent in April, but up from 77.1 percent one year ago. The yearly capacity utilization rate has been adjusted down to 81.4 percent, up from 76.6 percent compared to the same five-month period last year.

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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