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U.S Raw Steel Production Tops 1.8 Million Tons

March 13, 2018

U.S. raw steel production for the week ending March 10 totaled 1,813,000 net tons, a 5.7 percent increase from the same period last year. While down 1.1 percent from the prior week, this is the second week this year that production has topped 1.8 milllion tons. Prior to this month, the last time weekly production topped 1.8 million tons was in January 2015 when 1,899,000 tons were produced at a utilization rate of 79.0 percent. The mill capability utilization rate for the March 10 week averaged 77.8 percent, down slightly from 78.7 percent the prior week, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington.

Adjusted year-to-date producton through March 10 totaled 17,187,000 net tons at a capability utilization rate of 74.8 percent. That’s down 0.2 percent from the same period last year when the capability utilization was 74.6 percent.

Following is production by district for the week of March 10: North East: 214,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 681,000 net tons; Midwest, 163,000 net tons; South, 686,000 net tons; and West, 69,000 net tons, for a total of 1,813,000.

Note, the mill capability for first-quarter 2018 is approximately 30.0 million tons, compared to 30.0 million tons for the same period last year and 30.6 million tons for fourth-quarter 2017.

The raw steel production tonnage provided in this report is estimated. The figures are compiled from weekly production tonnage from 50 percent of the domestic producers combined with monthly production data for the remainder. Therefore, this report should be used primarily to assess production trends. The AISI monthly production report provides a more detailed summary of steel production based on data supplied by companies representing 75 percent of U.S. production capacity.

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