US: Research by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that local sales of iron and steel (ferrous) slags were 15Mt in 2022 with a value of around US$795m. This is a slight decrease from the 15.7Mt reported in 2021. 49% of the volume sold in 2022 was blast furnace slag and this accounted for the majority of the total value of the slag. Steel slag produced from basic oxygen and electric arc furnaces accounted for the remainder of sales. Around 2Mt of slag was imported for consumption.
The USGS said that slag was processed by 25 companies servicing active iron and steel facilities or reprocessing old slag piles at about 123 processing plants in 33 states, including facilities that import and grind unground slag to sell as ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). It added that domestic GGBFS remained in limited supply in 2022 because granulation cooling was available at only two active US-based blast furnaces and only one local plant produced pelletised slag in limited supply. It noted that granulated blast furnace slag was only ground domestically by cement companies.
