Steel Products Prices North America

Weekly Mill Utilization Rate Tops 65 Percent

Written by Tim Triplett

September 15, 2020

Domestic steelmakers continued to dial up production last week, with raw steel output rising for the 13th time in the past 14 weeks. Production by U.S. mills totaled 1,459,000 net tons in the week ending Sept. 12, with the mills at an average utilization rate of 65.1 percent. Production in the Sept. 12 week was up 2.2 percent from the prior week when the utilization rate was 63.7 percent. That’s still down 19 percent compared with the same week last year when the utilization rate was 77.4 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Adjusted year-to-date production through Sept. 12 totaled 54,728,000 net tons at an average utilization rate of 65.9 percent. That’s down 20.1 percent from the same period last year when the utilization rate was 80.3, percent, AISI said.

Following is production by district for the Sept. 12 week: North East: 122,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 530,000 net tons; Midwest, 172,000 net tons; South, 565,000 net tons; and West, 70,000 net tons, for a total of 1,459,000 tons and a net increase of 31,000 tons. Production was up in three of the five regions with decreases in the Northeast and West.

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 third-quarter 2020 is approximately 29.4 million tons, compared to 30.6 million tons for the same period last year and 29.1 million tons for the second quarter of 2020. 

Tim Triplett

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