Steel Products Prices North America

Raw Steel Production Increases for Seventh Week in a Row

January 21, 2020

Domestic steelmakers increased their raw steel production for the seventh week in a row, raising the average capability utilization to 82.7 percent in the week ending Jan. 18. Raw steel production totaled 1,928,000 net tons, up 0.3 percent from the previous week and up 3.0 percent compared with the same week last year, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute.

The last time weekly production was this high was the week ending May 11, 2019, when 1,927,000 tons of steel were produced at a capability utilization rate of 82.8 percent.

Adjusted year-to-date production through Jan. 18 totaled 4,936,000 net tons at a utilization rate of 82.3 percent. That’s up 2.6 percent from the same period last year when the rate was 80.4 percent.

Following is production by district for the Jan. 18 week: North East: 216,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 686,000 net tons; Midwest, 208,000 net tons; South, 730,000 net tons; and West, 88,000 net tons, for a total of 1,928,000 tons. Production for the week was up in every region except for small declines in the Midwest and West.

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 first-quarter 2020 is approximately 30.3 million tons compare with 29.9 million tons for the same period last year and 30.4 million tons for fourth-quarter 2019.