Steel Products Prices North America

Mill Capacity Utilization Tops 81 Percent

Written by Tim Triplett

June 18, 2019

U.S. steel mill utilization inched up a half percent after four weeks of small declines to 81.1 percent in the week ending June 15. Raw steel production for the week totaled 1,887,000 net tons, a 4.0 percent increase from the same period last year, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. 

Adjusted year-to-date production through June 15 totaled 44,997,000 net tons at an average capability utilization rate of 81.5 percent, a tonnage increase of 5.9 percent from the same period last year when the utilization rate was 76.7 percent

Following is production by district for the June 15 week: North East: 215,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 710,000 net tons; Midwest, 199,000 net tons; South, 694,000 net tons; and West, 69,000 net tons, for a total of 1,887,000 tons. Production was up in the South and Northeast, but down in the other three regions. 

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.

Note: Capability for second-quarter 2019 is approximately 30.3 million tons compared to 30.5 million tons for the same period last year and 29.9 million tons for first-quarter 2019.

Tim Triplett

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