Analyzing the US Steel & Steel Mill Products Market

The steel industry is critical to the U.S. economy. Steel is the material of choice for many elements of construction, transportation, manufacturing, and a variety of consumer products. Traditionally valued for its strength, steel has also become the most recycled material, with two-thirds of U.S. steel now produced from scrap.

The U.S. steel industry is a more than $50 billion enterprise, and additional downstream processing pushes the value closer to $75 billion. The industry accounts for nearly 10% of the global raw steel market, providing over 107 million net tons in 2003. Large quantities of low-cost imports have challenged the industry in recent years, but restructuring, downsizing, and widespread implementation of new technologies have led to vastly improved labor productivity, energy efficiency, and yield.

As a result of industry consolidation, the number of steelmaking facilities has decreased significantly over the last few decades. As of 2005, around 85 companies were producing raw steel at almost 140 locations. The absolute number of integrated mills producing steel in basic oxygen furnaces has always been relatively small and is currently at around 20. The highest geographic concentration of mills is in the Great Lakes region, including Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York. Approximately 80% of US steelmaking capacity is in these states. The industry employs more than 100,000 people nationwide.

In the United States, two methods are used to produce steel: the ore based, or integrated process, and the scrap based, or electric arc furnace process. Two different approaches are used to prepare semifinished billet: the integrated process, which uses a blast furnace, and the minimill, which uses a direct electric arc furnace. Once steel is in the semifinished state, further processing is required in both the minimill and the integrated steel-making process.

The manufacturing process of steel uses a complex series of capital-intensive unit processes to produce value-added, high-quality steel. Annual production of an integrated steel mill is three to five million metric tons. The integrated mill represents several billion dollars of capital investment, which has typically been funded over several generations. Only 21 integrated steel mills remain in operation and are located in the Great Lakes region near sources of iron ore, coal, and water.

Aruvian Research focuses on this highly lucrative industry, bringing you - Analyzing the US Steel & Steel Mill Products Market. The report is a complete guide to all the recent developments going on in the industry, along with an in-depth analysis on market statistics, market structure, competition in the industry, where the US Steel Industry stands on a global scenario, and much more.

Sections focusing on the value chain analysis of the industry, the steel crisis of 1998, a comparison of US, Japanese and South Korean steel companies, and the importance of the US steel industry to US national defense, adds a different perspective to Aruvian' s report as compared to the many others available today. Where the US Steel Mill Products Market stands on a global scenario is an added feature in this report.