Steel Products Prices North America

Mill Capacity Utilization Tops 70 Percent

Written by David Schollaert

November 3, 2020

Domestic mills continue to increase steel production as the economy rebounds from the coronavirus, with the capacity utilization rate topping 70 percent again for the first time since late-March. In the week ending Oct. 31, raw steel production totaled 1,557,000 net tons, at a mill operating rate of 70.4 percent, up from 69.7 percent the week prior. Although, production has continued to rebound week over week, the current week’s production is still 13.7 percent behind the same period last year, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Adjusted year-to-date production through Oct. 31 totaled 65,806,000 net tons, at an average utilization rate of 66.7 percent. That is down 18.9 percent from the same period last year, when the utilization rate was 80.1 percent, AISI said.

Following is production by district for the Oct. 31 week: North East: 160,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 569,000 net tons; Midwest, 173,000 net tons; South, 583,000 net tons; and West, 72,000 net tons for a total of 1,557,000 tons and a net increase of 33,000 tons. The South was the sole region to report a small decrease in production week/week. Production was up across all remaining regions.

Note: 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. Capability for fourth-quarter 2020 is approximately 29.1 million tons, compared to 30.4 million tons for the same period last year and 29.4 million tons for the second quarter of 2020.

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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