Steel Products Prices North America

January U.S. Raw Steel Production at 10-Month High

Written by Brett Linton

March 12, 2020

U.S. raw steel production in January rose to a 10-month high at 8,439,441 net tons, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. January production was above the 2019 average of 8,061,679 tons and up 1.8 percent compared to the same month last year. The last time production was this high was March 2019 at 8,472,311 tons.

Broken down by production method, 5,935,264 tons (70.3 percent) were produced by electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and 2,504,177 tons (29.7 percent) were produced by blast furnaces. The EAF production level is now at the highest seen in SMU’s 10-year history, surpassing the March 2019 high of 5,833,229 tons.

January production was 401,791 tons higher than December, and 152,555 tons lower than the same month last year. 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 January averaged 81.7 percent, up from 78.5 percent in December, and up from 80.4 percent one year ago.

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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