Indiana continues its 35-year run as national champ of steel production

American Iron and Steel Institute Director of Statistics Robert MacDonald said Indiana made 23.2 million tons of steel in 2015, more than any other state. However, that is down about 8 percent compared to the 25.5 million tons Hoosier steelworkers cranked out in 2014.

The fall in production came about because of the steel import crisis that afflicted steelmakers around the globe.

Indiana has 23,000 steelworkers and nearly a quarter of all steelmaking capacity in the United States. Nucor has a mini-mill in Crawfordsville and Steel Dynamics, the fourth largest producer of steel in the United States, is based in Fort Wayne, but the overwhelming majority of the steel made in Indiana is forged in Lake and Porter counties. More than 18,000 people work in the industry in Northwest Indiana.

The Region is home to Gary Works, the nation's largest steel mill, and ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, the nation's largest integrated steelmaking complex, as well as ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, which was the last integrated mill ever built in the United States more than a half century ago.

Indiana made more than 25 percent of all steel in America last year. U.S. steelmakers produced more than 85 million tons of steel last year, down from more than 95 million tons a year earlier as cheap and often illegal imports snatched a record 29 percent market share.