Steel Products Prices North America

November Raw Steel Production Steady at 6.8 Million Tons

Written by Brett Linton

January 5, 2017

The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final U.S. raw steel production estimates for the month of November 2016. The monthly estimates are different than the weekly estimates we report in our Tuesday issues; the AISI bases the monthly estimates on over 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. only 50 percent for the weekly estimates.

Total raw steel production for the month of November was reported to be 6,817,458 net tons with 4,696,589 tons being produced by electric arc furnaces (EAF) and 2,120,869 tons produced by blast furnaces. November raw steel production was reported to be 67,881 tons or 1.0 percent lower than the previous month but 389,037 tons or 6.1 percent higher than the same month last year.

Compared to the first eleven months of 2015, 2016 year-to-date (YTD) production is down 1.2 percent to 79,386,318 tons. The table below shows that 5 of the 11 state-groups reported decreased YTD production compared to the same period last year.

The capacity utilization rate for the month of November 2016 was reported to be 67.1 percent, down from 65.4 percent in October and down from 62.7 percent reported in November 2015. The yearly capacity utilization rate is now 70.8 percent, down from 71.1 percent in October and down from 70.9 percent in November 2015. Readers should be aware that there has been a reduction in available steel capacity from 2015 to 2016, making the capacity utilization rate higher in 2016 for the same amount of steel produced in 2015.

SMU Note: An interactive graphic of our raw steel production history can be seen in the Analysis section of our website here. If you need help logging into the website or navigating through it, please contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or 800-432-3475.

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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