Market Segment
April 10, 2023
Raw Steel Production Rebounds: AISI
Written by David Schollaert
Raw steel production by US mills recovered slightly last week, rising 1% from the week prior, according to data released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) on Monday, April 10.
Domestic production stood at 1,675,000 net tons in the week ended April 8 vs. 1,658,000 tons the previous week. Output was off 6.3% from 1,788,000 tons in the same week last year. This marks the first increase after two consecutive weeks of output declines.
The mill capability utilization rate was 74.4% last week, up from 74.2% a week earlier and down markedly from 81.9% in the same week last year.
AISI said that adjusted year-to-date production through April 8 was 23,283,000 tons at a capability utilization rate of 74.4%. This is down 4.3% from the year-ago period when 24,323,000 tons were produced with an overall capability utilization rate of 80.3%.
Production by region for the week ending April is below. (Note: week-over-week change is in parentheses.)
- Northeast – 150,000 tons (up 11,000 tons)
- Great Lakes – 574,000 tons (up 12,000 tons)
- Midwest – 206,000 tons (down 16,000 tons)
- South – 677,000 tons (up 6,000 tons)
- West – 68,000 tons (up 4,000 tons)
Note: The raw steel production tonnage provided in this report is estimated. The figures are compiled from weekly production tonnages 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
