Weekly Raw Steel Production Slips for Second Week

For the week ending September 6, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,885,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.5 percent decrease over the previous week but a 0.5 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 78.4 percent, down from 79.5 percent last week but up from 78.3 percent last year. This is the lowest production level since the week ending July 19th, 2014 when raw production was at 1,852,000 tons. The last time the capacity utilization rate was this low was for the week ending July 5th, 2014 when it was at 77.0 percent. The highest levels recently were for the week ending August 23rd, 2014 when production was at 1,932,000 tons and the capacity utilization rate was at 80.3 percent.

Estimated total raw steel produced for 2014 YTD is reported to be 65,993,000 tons, up 0.7 percent from the 65,550,000 tons produced during the same period in 2013. The average capacity utilization rate for 2014 YTD is estimated to be 77.2 percent, up from 77.0 percent for 2013 YTD. Note that there has been a change in production capability for 2014–comparisons between 2013 and 2014 capacity utilization rates are against different production levels, so the total tonnage figures are best suited for yearly comparisons.