Steel Products Prices North America

February Raw Steel Production Down 14.8% Over January

Written by Brett Linton

March 29, 2015

The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final raw steel production estimates for the month of February 2015. The monthly estimates are different than the weekly estimates we report in our Tuesday issues; the AISI bases the monthly estimates on 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. only 50 percent for the weekly estimates.

Total raw steel production for the month of February was reported to be 6,818,518 net tons with 4,269,881 tons being produced by electric arc furnaces (EAF) and 2,548,637 tons produced by blast furnaces. February raw steel production was reported by the AISI to have been 4.8 percent lower than the previous month. Month-over-month production declined for all 11 state-groups from as little as 0.1 percent to as much as 42.2 percent (See table below).

Compared to the first two months of 2014, 2015 YTD production is down 4.8 percent. The table below shows that 9 of the 11 state-groups in the yearly comparison were reported as down.

The capacity utilization rate for the month of February 2015 was reported to be 72.1 percent, down from 76.4 percent in January and down from 77.9 percent in February 2014. However, our readers need to be aware that the capacity available to produce steel has been reduced by the AISI.

SMU Note: You can view the interactive graphic of our raw steel production history below, but only when you are logged in and reading the newsletter on our website. If you need help logging into the website or navigating through it, please contact us at: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by calling 800-432-3475.

{amchart id=”131″ Monthly Raw Steel Production from AISI – AIS 7}

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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