Great Lakes Steel Production Ticks Up, Ending Four-Week Skid

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Steel production rose by 3,000 tons in the Great Lakes region last week, ending a skid of four straight weekly decreases, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Locally, steel mills in the Great Lakes region, clustered mainly along the south shore of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana, made 571,000 tons of metal in the week that ended June 3, up from 568,000 tons the previous week.

Steel mills remained below 80% capacity, but have been inching back toward the key threshold for financial success for the steel sector.

After years of record profitability, the industry saw imports grab 24% of the market share last year as prices fell back down from all-time highs. Steel prices have since been on the mend as automotive orders have picked back up but some say the manufacturing industry has been in a recession with the Institute for Supply Management reporting it has contracted every month since November.

Overall, domestic steel mills made 1.754 million tons of steel last week, up 1% from 1.737 million tons the previous week and down 0.2% compared to 1.757 million tons the same time a year prior.

Nationally, steel production in 2023 totals 37.24 million tons, a 3.3% decrease from the 38.53 million tons manufactured through the same period last year.

U.S. steel mills have run at a capacity utilization rate of 75.5% through Saturday, down from 80.5% at the same point in 2022, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Steel capacity utilization was 78% last week, down from 80.5% a year earlier and up from 77.2% the week prior.

Steel production in the southern region, which encompasses many mini-mills and rivals the Great Lakes region in output, totaled 768,000 tons last week, up from 744,000 tons the week before, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Volume in the rest of the Midwest fell to 213,000 tons, down from 223,000 tons the week prior.

Courtesy: www.nwitimes.com