Steel Products Prices North America

Raw Steel Production Up for the Second Week in a Row

Written by Tim Triplett

June 23, 2020

Steel production in the week ending June 20 totaled 1,224,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average utilization rate of 54.6 percent. Production was up 1.2 percent from the prior week when the utilization rate was 54.0 percent. This is a notable improvement from the post-virus low point of 1,144,000 tons or 51.1 percent utilization in the week ending May 2, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Although improved, the current week’s production still represents a 34.3 percent decrease from the same week last year when the mills were running at over 80 percent of capacity. 

Adjusted year-to-date production through June 20 totaled 37,925,000 net tons at an average utilization rate of 67.5 percent–down 18.4 percent from production in the same period last year when the average utilization rate was 81.2 percent.

Following is production by district for the June 20 week: North East: 111,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 406,000 net tons; Midwest, 129,000 net tons; South, 526,000 net tons; and West, 52,000 net tons, for a total of 1,224,000 tons and a net increase of 14,000 tons. Production decreased in all regions except the South.

Note: 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. Capability for second-quarter 2020 is approximately 29.1 million tons, compared to 30.3 million tons for the same period last year and 30.1 million tons for the first quarter of 2020. 

Tim Triplett

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