Steel Products Prices North America

February Raw Steel Production Down MOM, Flat YOY

Written by Brett Linton

April 3, 2017

The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final U.S. raw steel production estimates for the month of February 2017. 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 February was reported to be 7,080,462 net tons with 4,720,154 tons being produced by electric arc furnaces (EAF) and 2,360,309 tons produced by blast furnaces. February raw steel production was reported to be 608,263 tons or 7.9 percent lower than the previous month but just 813 tons or <0.1 percent lower than the same month last year. As seen in the table below, 10 of the 11 state-groups reported a decline in month-over-month production.

Compared to the first two months of 2016, 2017 year-to-date (YTD) production is up 4.0 percent to 14,769,187 tons. The table below shows that 8 of the 11 state-groups reported increased YTD production compared to the same period last year.

The capacity utilization rate for the month of February 2017 was reported to be 75.9 percent, up from 73.3 percent in January and up from 73.1 percent reported in February 2016. The yearly capacity utilization rate is now 75.2 percent, up from 73.3 percent in January and up from 70.8 percent in February 2016.

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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