Steel Products Prices North America

Mill Utilization Slips for the First Time in Weeks

Written by David Schollaert

March 23, 2021

U.S. raw steel production took a slight step back this week following repeated gains over the past five weeks. Weekly steel production by U.S. mills totaled 1,753,000 tons in the week ending March 20, bringing production down 0.5% compared with the week prior when production was 1,761,000 tons. The mill utilization rate last week averaged 77.3%, down from 77.7% the week prior, but up 2.0% from the same period last year when production totaled 1,741,000 tons.

Adjusted year-to-date production through March 20 was 19,626,000 net tons, at an average utilization rate of 76.8%. That’s down 6.2% from the same period last year when the utilization rate was 79.6% and production was 20,917,000 net tons, AISI said.

Following is production by district for the March 20 week: North East, 164,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 620,000 net tons; Midwest, 184,000 net tons; South, 724,000 net tons; and West, 61,000 net tons for a total of 1,753,000 net tons. Despite a rise in production in the North East and Midwest regions, the decreases in the other three regions brought production down by 8,000 net tons compared to the week prior.

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 Wk13

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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