US Steel Mills Recorded 12% Jump in Shipments

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has published the mills’ steel shipment data for the month of September this year. The figures indicate significant jump in shipment volumes from September last year. The US steel mills shipment was up sharply by nearly 12% over the previous year. However, the shipments reduced modestly upon comparison with the previous month. The AISI data suggests 12% year-on-year jump and 5% month-on-month decline in steel shipments during September 2017.

The shipments by US steel mills totaled 7,559,625 net tons during the month of September this year. This is higher by 11.7% when matched with the previous year. The shipments had totaled only 6,769,312 net tons in September 2016. When matched with the prior month, the shipments declined by 4.7%. A total of 7,928,795 net tons were shipped during August this year.

The steel product to report significant surge in shipment volumes during the month was cold rolled sheets. The shipments were up by 5% from August. On the other hand, the shipments of hot rolled sheets declined sharply by 9% from the previous month. The other product that reported notable decline in shipments was hot dipped galvanized sheets and strip, which was also down by 9% month-on-month.

The cumulative steel shipments during the initial nine months of 2017 totaled 68,427,747 net tons. The shipments during the nine-month period in 2017 were up by nearly 4% when compared with the shipments during the corresponding nine-month period in 2016. The shipments had totaled only 65,803,018 net tons during January to September in 2016.

Also, data suggests that the total US steel imports during the first ten months of 2017 were 32,841,000 net tons, out of which finished steel imports totaled 25,375,000 net tons. The imports of total and finished steel by the country surged higher by 19% and 15% respectively, when compared with the similar ten-month period in 2016.

Meantime, the US weekly raw steel production recorded marginal increase of 2.1% during the week ending October 7^th. The domestic raw steel production increased from 1.706 million net tons during the week ending September 30^th to 1.741 million net tons during the week ending October 7^th. The weekly production climbed higher by 5.2% over the previous year. The capability utilization rate of US steel mills recorded marginal increase over the previous week to total 74.7% during the week ending October 7, 2017.

A similar jump was witnessed in year-to-date raw steel production by the country. The production increased by 3.7% from 67.045 million net tons during the year-to-date period in 2016 to 69.545 million net tons during the similar period this year.