Steel Products Prices North America

AISI: Weekly Raw Steel Production, Utilization Dip Back Down

Written by David Schollaert

November 21, 2022

Raw steel production by US mills edged back down last week. The marginal week-on-week (WoW) decline brought output to its lowest weekly total all year, keeping both utilization and output at their lowest levels in nearly two years, according to the latest data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

Domestic steel output was 1,628,000 net tons during the week ending Nov. 19, down 1% from the week prior and 10.9% lower than the 1,828,000 tons produced during the same week last year.

Capability utilization was 73% last week — down 0.7 percentage points from 73.7% the previous week and down 9.8 percentage points from the same period one year ago when the rate was 82.8%. Capability utilization has now been below the 80% mark for 19 straight weeks.

Adjusted year-to-date production through Nov. 19 now stands at 79,620,000 tons, with an overall utilization rate of 78.7%. Production was 5.1% below the same period last year when it was 83,877,000 tons and capability utilization was at 81.3%, AISI said.

Output declined in three out of the five regions last week: The Great Lakes (-12,000 tons, or -2.2%), the South (-7,000 tons, or -1%), and the Northeast (-2,000 tons, or -1.4%). Production rose in the West (+3,000 tons, or +4.3%) and the Midwest (+1,000 tons, or +0.5%).

Production by region for the week ending Nov. 19 was as follows: Northeast, 141,000 tons; Great Lakes, 524,000 tons; Midwest, 188,000 tons; South, 702,000 tons; and West, 73,000 tons — for a total of 1,628,000 tons, down by 17,000 tons from the prior week.

WeeklyRawSteelProd Wk45

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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