Indiana again led the nation in steel production last year, single-handedly accounting for nearly a fourth of the nation’s output.
The Hoosier State maintained its spot as the top steel producer nationally. It has made more steel than any other state for more than four decades, said Lisa Harrison, senior vice president of communications for the American Iron and Steel Institute.
“Over the past 12 months ending in November 2022, Indiana produced about 21.5 million tons of steel,” she said. “That’s about 12% less than the previous year.”
Indiana made 24.3 million tons of steel in 2021 and 21.6 million tons in 2020.
Last year, the Hoosier State made more than twice as much steel as the second-place state, Ohio.
“The second-largest steel producer over the past 12 months, Ohio, produced about 10.5 million tons of steel,” Harrison said.
Much of the steel made in Indiana takes place at the gargantuan integrated steel mills that ring Lake Michigan’s South Shore in the Region. Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel’s mills in Northwest Indiana are some of the largest in the world.
Parking lots the size of football fields are filled with steel coil at the mills along the lakeshore. Trains and trucks constantly rumble through, carrying the gleaming steel coil to far-flung factories to be made into cars, appliances, building materials and countless other products.
While steelmaking in America has long been transitioning to smaller, lower-cost mini-mills, Lake and Porter counties account for about half the blast-furnace capacity in the country.
The steel industry pervades Northwest Indiana, where NLMK Indiana and many other steel companies operate out of the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, for instance. The Region is home to many steel service centers and distributors: Berlin Metals, Munster Steel, Ryerson, Republic Steel, Alliance Steel, AAA Supply Corp., Kenwai Steel, Ratner Steel Supplies, Crossroads Steel Supply, Adriatic Steel Co., Leeco Steel, Bayshore Metal, Serve Steel, Coltrade Inc., RW Conklin Steel Supply, Steel Cities Steels, Chicago Specialty Steels and Steel Supply Corp.
It’s also home to many companies that service the steel industry, such as TMS International and Praxair.
Indiana is also home to Steel Dynamics in Fort Wayne and a Nucor mini-mill in Crawfordsville.
The Hoosier State has led the nation in steel production since at least 1975, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Steelmaking was long spread out more across the nation, with steel mills scattered across Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan and many other places. But the U.S. steel industry suffered significant decline during the 1970s, when foreign competitors flooded the country with cheap imports, turning many mill towns into gutted ghost towns with great industrial ruins just rusting away.
Much of America’s steelmaking production ended up consolidated in Northwest Indiana. It’s a strategic location because of “proximity to Lake Michigan and easier to access raw materials needed for steelmaking delivered on lake freighters,” Harrison said.
Northwest Indiana steel mills can more easily procure iron ore from Minnesota’s Iron Range and northern Michigan. They’re also close to many of the largest users of steel: automotive plants in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and downstate Indiana.
Last year, Indiana single-handedly accounted for about 24% of the nation’s steel production. The American Iron and Steel Institute estimates that U.S. steel mills shipped 89 million tons of steel nationwide, down from 94.5 million tons the previous year.
Indiana’s steel production remains below pre-pandemic levels, however. The state made 24.7 million tons of steel in 2019, but Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel have idled blast furnaces since then. U.S. Steel also has idled much of its tin production in Northwest Indiana, citing declining demand.
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