Steel Products Prices North America

Raw Steel Production Up to 80.4 Percent

July 23, 2019

Domestic steelmakers are keeping their capacity utilization above the 80 percent mark as they seek higher prices in the marketplace. The U.S. mill utilization rate averaged 80.4 percent in the week ending July 20, an increase of 0.3 percent from the previous week. Raw steel production for the week totaled 1,872,000 net tons. Production was up by 1.8 percent compared with the same week last year, when capacity utilization averaged 78.4 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Adjusted year-to-date production through July 20 totaled 54,197,000 net tons at an average capability utilization rate of 81.1 percent. That’s up 5.0 percent from the 51,593,000 net tons during the same period last year when the capability utilization rate was 77.0 percent.

Following is production by district for the July 20 week: North East: 205,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 685,000 net tons; Midwest, 204,000 net tons; South, 697,000 net tons; and West, 81,000 net tons, for a total of 1,872,000 tons. Production for the week increased in the Northeast, Great Lakes and West, but decreased slightly in the Midwest and South 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 third-quarter 2019 is approximately 30.6 million tons compared to 30.8 million tons for the same period last year and 30.3 million tons for second-quarter 2019.