Primary metals
Industry profile, February 2020
Sections: Description | Pricing | Costs | Demand | Appendix
This page is an industry profile for the Primary metals industry. It provides a general economic overview of recent developments in the industry. This includes information on industry pricing, costs, and demand. Below you will find a description of what type of business establishments are included in this industry. For information on how to best utilize this industry profile please visit our Business Solutions.
Industry Description
Industries in the Primary Metal Manufacturing subsector smelt and/or refine ferrous and nonferrous metals from ore, pig or scrap, using electrometallurgical and other process metallurgical techniques. Establishments in this subsector also manufacture metal alloys and superalloys by introducing other chemical elements to pure metals. The output of smelting and refining, usually in ingot form, is used in rolling, drawing, and extruding operations to make sheet, strip, bar, rod, or wire, and in molten form to make castings and other basic metal products.
This industry description was sourced from the North American Industry Classification System.
To download this data, or to learn more about how pricing is measured, please contact us.
- As of January 2020, prices in this industry had decreased 2.7 percent since the previous quarter.
- From January 2019 to January 2020 prices in this industry decreased 8.9 percent.
- Prices increased 14.1 percent in the five year period starting in January 2015 and ending in January 2020.
To download this data, or to learn more about how costs for this industry are measured, please contact us.
- As of January 2020, costs in this industry had 0 percent since the previous quarter.
- From January 2019 to January 2020 costs in this industry decreased 2.9 percent.
- Costs increased 13.2 percent in the five year period starting in January 2015 and ending in January 2020.
For details on which industries are included in each sector, click here
- The largest cost for this industry is purchases made to the Manufacturing sector. This sector accounts for 49% of the industry's overall costs.
- From January 2019 to January 2020, the largest change in costs for this industry were costs associated with purchases to the Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector. Costs associated with this sector increased 6.3%.
| Sector Name | Percentage of Costs | Annual Percent Change 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 49% | -5.8% |
| Labor | 15.9% | +2.3% |
| Other | 14.7% | -0.1% |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction | 6.9% | -6.2% |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 3.3% | +6.3% |
To download this data, or to learn more about how demand for this industry is measured, please contact us.
- As of July 2019, demand for this industry had increased 1.9 percent since the previous quarter.
- From July 2018 to January 2020 costs in this industry increased 5.2 percent.
- Costs decreased 0.1 percent in the five year period starting in July 2014 and ending in July 2019.
For details on which industries are included in each sector, click here
- The sector that contributes the most to this industry's demand is the Manufacturing sector. This sector accounts for 79.8% of the industry's overall demand.
- From January 2019 to January 2020, the largest change in demand for this industry was from the Exports sector, where demand increased 47.7%.
| Sector Name | Percentage of Demand | Annual Percent Change 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 79.8% | +0.8% |
| Exports | 12.7% | +47.7% |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction | 2.1% | +2.9% |
| Construction | 1.6% | +1.4% |
| Real Estate and Rental and Leasing | 1% | +5.2% |
- Pricing measured from January 2020.
- The BLS PPI used for this industry is PCU331---331---.
- Costs measured from January 2020
- Demand measured from July 2019
