Steel Products Prices North America

No Sign of Slowing in Weekly Steel Production

Written by Tim Triplett

October 27, 2020

Weekly raw steel production by U.S. mills rose again by 0.5 percent to 1,542,000 net tons in the week ending Oct. 24. The mill operating rate hit 69.7 percent, up from 69.4 percent the week prior. Despite the steady increases over the past 20 weeks as the economy recovers from COVID, domestic steel production was still 14.6 percent below the 1,805,000 tons produced in the same week last year, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Adjusted year-to-date production through Oct. 24 totaled 64,023,000 net tons, at an average utilization rate of 66.34 percent. That is down 19.3 percent from the same period last year, when the utilization rate was 80.1 percent, AISI said.

Following is production by district for the Oct. 24 week: North East: 135,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 563,000 net tons; Midwest, 171,000 net tons; South, 600,000 net tons; and West, 73,000 net tons, for a total of 1,542,000 tons and a net increase of 17,000 tons. Production was flat to up slightly in all regions except the North East. .

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 fourth-quarter 2020 is approximately 29.1 million tons, compared to 30.4 million tons for the same period last year and 29.4 million tons for the second quarter of 2020.

Tim Triplett

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