Steel Products Prices North America

Weekly Raw Steel Production Recovers, Still Sub 80%

Written by David Schollaert

September 12, 2022

Raw steel production by US mills recovered last week after declining for two straight weeks. Despite the week-on-week (WoW) gain, the total was still the second-lowest total since February 2021, while utilization rates haven’t eclipsed the 80% mark in ten weeks.

Domestic output was 1,723,000 net tons in the week ending Sept. 10, while capacity utilization was 78.2%, according to the latest data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

US output was up 0.5% from the week prior yet down 6.3% from last year’s production of 1,839,000 net tons. Mill capacity utilization last week was 0.4 percentage points above the prior week but 5.1 percentage points below the same period one year ago when utilization was 83.3%.

Adjusted year-to-date production through Sept. 10 totaled 64,041,000 net tons, at an average utilization rate of 79.8%. That’s 3.8% below the same period last year when production was 65,529,000 net tons, though the utilization rate was lower then, at 81%, AISI said.

Output fell in three of five regions last week, but was offset by gains of 29,000 net tons (+5.4%) and 5,000 net tons (+7.7%) in the Great Lakes and West regions, respectively.  

Production by region for the week ending Sept. 10 was as follows: Northeast, 146,000 tons; Great Lakes, 568,000 tons; Midwest, 199,000 tons; South, 740,000 tons; and West, 70,000 tons—for a total of 1,723,000 net tons, up 8,000 net tons from the prior week.

 WeeklyRawSteelProd Wk37

Note: The raw steel production tonnage provided in this report is estimated. The figures are compiled from weekly production tonnage provided by approximately 50% of the domestic production capacity combined with the most recent monthly production data for the remainder. Therefore, this report should be used primarily to assess production trends. The AISI production report “AIS 7,” published monthly and available by subscription, provides a more detailed summary of steel production based on data supplied by companies representing 75% of US production capacity.

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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