AISI Reports 4.4% Rise in Weekly Raw Steel Production

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. raw steel production continued to surge higher during the most recent week for which the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) data is available. The production has been on the rise since the beginning of 2019.  The domestic mills operated at higher capacity utilization rates during the week. The current week production was up significantly over the previous year, whereas it stood marginally higher over the prior week.

The U.S. domestic raw steel production totaled 1.897 million net tons during the week ending on February 9, 2019. The weekly production surged higher by 4.4% from the same period in the previous year. It must be noted that the production had totaled only 1.817 million net tons in the week ending February 9, 2018. The weekly production was up marginally by 0.4% from the prior week ending February 2, 2019 when production had totaled only 1.889 million net tons, AISI report said.

The capability utilization rate by U.S. mills at 81.5% in the week ending February 9, 2019 was marginally higher from 81.2% during the prior week, but significantly higher over 77.9% recorded during same week the previous year.

The year-to-date production through February 9, 2019 totaled 10.851 million net tons at a capability utilization rate of 80.6%. This compares with 9.931 million net tons during the same period in 2018, when mills had operated at a capability utilization rate of 75.7%.

The output jump was led by the Southern region, whose production totaled 713,000 net tons. The output by the other regions in thousand nets tons is as follows: Great Lakes (682), Northeast (229), Midwest (198), Western (75).