Steel Products Prices North America

Weekly Raw Steel Production Keeps Inching Up

Written by David Schollaert

April 26, 2021

Raw steel production by U.S. mills inched up another 0.6% from the previous week, totaling 1,781,000 net tons in the week ending April 24 compared to 1,761,000 net tons the week prior. The mill utilization rate last week averaged 78.4%, up from 78.0% the week before and up 43.6% from the same period last year when production was 1,240,000 net tons and utilization was just 55.4% as the pandemic gripped the economy.

Comparing the latest data to the comparable period in 2019, a year not affected by the pandemic, shows current production down 6.0%. Which suggests the market still has a way to go before recovering to more normal levels.

Adjusted year-to-date production through April 24 was 28,484,000 net tons, at an average utilization rate of 77.2%. That’s up 2.1% from the same period last year when the utilization rate was 73.7% and production was 27,905,000 net tons, AISI said.

Following is production by district for the April 24 week: North East, 166,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 611,000 net tons; Midwest, 189,000 net tons; South, 744,000 net tons; and West, 71,000 net tons for a total of 1,781,000 net tons. Production was up by 11,000 net tons compared to the week prior. Only the South and West districts posted reduced output week-on-week.

Note: The raw steel production tonnage provided in this report is estimated. The figures are compiled from weekly production tonnage provided from 50% of the domestic producers combined with monthly production data for the remainder. Therefore, this report should be used primarily to assess production trends. AISI’s monthly production report provides a more detailed summary of steel production based on data supplied by companies representing 75% of U.S. production capacity. Capability for the first quarter of 2021 is approximately 29.1 million tons compared to 30.1 million tons for the same period last year and 29.1 million tons for the fourth quarter of 2020.

WeeklyRawSteelProd Wk17

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

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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