Steel Products Prices North America

Mill Utilization Sees Small Dip, But Still Over 80 Percent

Written by Tim Triplett

June 25, 2019

The market is keeping a close watch on capacity utilization by domestic steelmakers for signs the mills may be dialing back on their high production rates to better match supply with demand. While there was a small dip, mill utilization remained above the 80 percent level last week.

The American Iron and Steel Institute reports that raw steel production for the week ending June 22 totaled 1,873,000 net tons, a 3.2 percent increase from the same period last year. The mill utilization rate was 80.5 percent, down from 81.1 percent the prior week.

Adjusted year-to-date production through June 22 totaled 46,870,000 net tons at an average capability utilization rate of 81.5 percent, a tonnage increase of 5.8 percent from the same period last year when the utilization rate was 76.7 percent

Following is production by district for the June 22 week: North East: 219,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 708,000 net tons; Midwest, 205,000 net tons; South, 668,000 net tons; and West, 73,000 net tons, for a total of 1,873,000 tons. Production was down in the South and Great Lakes, but up 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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