Steel Products Prices North America

Raw Steel Production Up 1.4% Last Week

Written by David Schollaert

May 18, 2021

Raw steel production by U.S. mills totaled 1,799,000 in the week ending May 15, up 1.4% compared to the week prior when production totaled 1,774,000 net tons, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). The mill utilization rate last week averaged 79.2%, up from 78.1% the week before and up 47.1% from the same period last year when production was 1,223,000 net tons and mill utilization was just 54.6% due to COVID-induced disruptions.

According the data compiled by AISI, the market is still lagging pre-pandemic levels. When comparing the latest data to the comparable pre-COVID-19 period in 2019, current production is down 5.3%, more than 100,000 net tons. Adjusted year-to-date production through May 15 was 33,888,000 net tons, at an average utilization rate of 77.5%. That’s up 7.3% from the same period last year when the utilization rate was 69.9% and production was 31,588,000 net tons, AISI said.

Following is production by district for the May 8 week: North East, 151,000 net tons; Great Lakes, 616,000 net tons; Midwest, 187,000 net tons; South, 767,000 net tons; and West, 78,000 net tons, for a total of 1,799,000 net tons. Production was up by 25,000 net tons compared to the week prior. All districts posted increased outputs 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.  The AISI production report “AIS 7”, published monthly and available by subscription, provides a more detailed summary of steel production based on data supplied by companies representing 75% of U.S. production capacity.  Note: 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 of 2021.

WeeklyRawSteelProd Wk20

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief 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. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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