Weekly Steel Production's Up, But Still Lags Last Year

Raw steel production by U.S. mills increased by 7,000 net tons last week. In the week ending Nov. 14, domestic steel production totaled 1,580,000 net tons, pushing the average industry capacity utilization rate up slightly to 71.4 percent. Although production continues on a slow upward trajectory, it remains 13.3 percent below the same week last year when the operating rate was 78.8 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Adjusted year-to-date production through Nov. 14 totaled 68,959,000 net tons, at an average utilization rate of 66.9 percent. That’s down 18.7 percent from the same period last year, when the utilization rate was 80.0 percent, AISI said.