Steel Products Prices North America

Mills at 81.5 Percent Capacity Last Week, Produce 1.9 million Tons

February 25, 2020

Raw steel production in the week ending Feb. 22 totaled 1,901,000 net tons, a small 0.3 percent decrease from the prior week. The average mill utilization rate of 81.5 percent has fluctuated within a narrow +/-1 percent range since the beginning of the year and remains at a healthy level for the mills. Production last week was down 0.8 percent from the same period in 2019, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Adjusted year-to-date production through Feb. 22 totaled 14,476,000 net tons at a utilization rate of 82.0 percent. That’s up 1.1 percent from production in the same period last year when the average utilization rate was 81.3 percent.

Following is production by district for the Feb. 22 week: North East: 229,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 688,000 net tons; Midwest, 203,000 net tons; South, 712,000 net tons; and West, 69,000 net tons, for a total of 1,901,000 tons. Production for the week was up slightly in the Great Lakes and Midwest, but down in the other 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 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.