Steel Production Industry Profile

Companies in this industry engage in converting pig iron to steel, making steel, and manufacturing steel shapes, pipes, and tubes. Major companies include Nucor and US Steel (both from the US), as well as ArcelorMittal (Luxembourg); China Baowu and HBIS Group (both from China); JFE and Nippon Steel (both from Japan), POSCO (South Korea), Tata Steel (India), and ThyssenKrupp (Germany).

The global steel industry produces about 1,900 million metric tons of steel per year, according to the 2021 Figures of WorldSteel. China is by far the largest steel maker. China produces more steel than the next six largest steel making countries combined, and accounts for about half of global steel production. Other top steel producers include Japan, the US, India, South Korea, Russia, and Germany.

The US steel production industry includes about 300 companies with combined annual revenue of about $90 billion.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand comes largely from manufacturers of durable goods such as motor vehicles, machinery, containers, and construction steel. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations, because most products are commodities sold based on price. Big companies enjoy significant economies of scale in production. Accordingly, most producers of secondary products buy raw metal from the large producers. Small companies can compete by serving regional markets or producing specialty products. The US industry is highly concentrated: the 50 largest companies generate more than 95% of revenue.

Steel imports make up ...