Steel Products Prices North America

Weekly Steel Production Dips by 1.4 Percent

Written by Tim Triplett

September 3, 2019

Raw steel production by domestic steelmakers dipped by 1.4 percent last week, taking the industry’s average capacity utilization rate down more than a percentage point to 79.5 percent–below the 80 percent mark the mills strive to maintain. Production for the week ending Aug. 31 totaled 1,850,000 net tons, also down 0.6 percent compared with the same period last year, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. 

U.S. mills have produced 65,313,000 tons for the year to date, a 4.1 percent increase compared with the same period in 2018. Mill utilization has averaged 80.8 percent so far this year, up from 77.3 percent last year.

Following is production by district for the Aug. 31 week: North East: 209,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 673,000 net tons; Midwest, 198,000 net tons; South, 699,000 net tons; and West, 71,000 net tons, for a total of 1,850,000 tons. Production for the week was flat to down in all regions except the Northeast.

The raw steel production tonnage provided in this report is estimated. The figures are compiled from weekly production tonnage from 50 percent of the domestic producers combined with monthly production data for the remainder. Therefore, this report should be used primarily to assess production trends. The AISI monthly production report provides a more detailed summary of steel production based on data supplied by companies representing 75 percent of U.S. production capacity.

Note: Capability for third-quarter 2019 is approximately 30.6 million tons compared to 30.8 million tons for the same period last year and 30.3 million tons for second-quarter 2019.

Tim Triplett

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