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    April 26, 2021

    Weekly Raw Steel Production Keeps Inching Up

    Written by David Schollaert

    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.

    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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