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
Read more from Brett LintonLatest in Steel Products Prices North America
Nucor lifts HR coil to $820/ton
Nucor has increased its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil for a fourth consecutive week.
Nucor pushes HR spot price to $790/ton
Nucor increased its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil to $790 per short ton (st) on Monday, Feb. 10 – a $15/st bump vs. last week. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company has raised its weekly CSP by $40/st over the past three weeks after maintaining tags at $750/st since Nov. 12, according to SMU’s […]
ArcelorMittal Dofasco increases spot sheet prices
ArcelorMittal Dofasco is raising spot sheet prices by CA$100 per ton (US$70/ton). The Hamilton, Ontario-based flat rolled steelmaker told customers the increase is effective immediately for all new orders. It did not specify to what level this brings its base prices but noted its right to re-quote previous but unconfirmed orders. “We will continue to […]
Nucor raises HR spot price to $775/ton
Nucor increased its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil to $775 per short ton (st) on Monday, Feb. 3. The $15/st week-on-week (w/w) rise marks the first back-to-back increases in the steelmaker’s weekly CSP since last August, according to SMU’s mill price announcement calendar. Nucor’s joint-venture subsidiary California Steel Industries (CSI) is also up […]
Nucor raises HR spot price to $760/ton
Nucor increased its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil to $760 per short ton (st) on Monday, Jan. 21. The $10/st week-on-week (w/w) rise marks the first increase in the CSP since Nov. 12. According to SMU’s mill price announcement calendar, the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker held the weekly price at $750/st for 11 […]