Steel Products Prices North America

Weekly Raw Steel Production Still Edging Up

Written by David Schollaert

May 4, 2021

Raw steel production by U.S. mills rose for the third week in a row, hitting 1,788,000 tons in the week ending May 1, up 0.4% from the previous week when production totaled 1,781,000 net tons. The mill utilization rate last week averaged 78.7%, up from 78.4% the week before and up 44.4% from the same period last year when production was 1,238,000 net tons and utilization was just 55.2% due to the COVID shutdowns.

The market is still behind pre-pandemic levels, according the data compiled by AISI. When comparing the latest data to the comparable pre-COVID-19 period in 2019, current production is down 6.6%.

Adjusted year-to-date production through May 1 was 30,315,000 net tons, at an average utilization rate of 77.4%. That’s up 4.0% from the same period last year when the utilization rate was 73.6% and production was 29,143,000 net tons, AISI said.

Following is production by district for the May 1 week: North East, 160,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 616,000 net tons; Midwest, 185,000 net tons; South, 756,000 net tons; and West, 71,000 net tons, for a total of 1,788,000 net tons. Production was up by 7,000 net tons compared to the week prior. The Great Lakes and South were the sole districts to post increased output week-on-week.

Note: The raw steel production tonnage provided in this report is estimated. The figures are compiled from weekly production tonnage provided from 50% of the domestic producers combined with monthly production data for the remainder. Therefore, this report should be used primarily to assess production trends. AISI’s monthly production report provides a more detailed summary of steel production based on data supplied by companies representing 75% of U.S. production capacity. Note that capability for second-quarter 2021 is approximately 29.5 million tons compared to 29.1 million tons for the same period last year and 29.1 million tons for the first quarter.

WeeklyRawSteelProd Wk18

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is a senior analyst for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. Based in CRU’s Pittsburgh office, David can be reached at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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