Steel executives call industry ‘dynamic’ as production climbs 10% and investment tops $50B

PITTSBURGH — Dynamic. Rebirth. Healthy.

When top executives of major steel producers got together this week for a global conference in downtown Pittsburgh, those are three of the words they used to describe the business these days. Between the reshoring of American manufacturing, tariffs and other trade action from the Trump administration, and strong demand from data centers and power generators among other sectors, the steel industry is bullish on the near future.

Steel production is up about 10% in April compared to a year ago and annual production is at an almost four-year high. Almost $50 billion in investment has been poured into the domestic steel industry over the past five years, according to Association for Iron & Steel Technology data presented Wednesday. Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) is spending upward of $11 billion on its own projects under new owners Nippon Steel, including $1 billion for a new hot strip mill at the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock.