Weekly US steel mill capability utilization rises above 55%

US raw steel capability utilization continued to rise last week, increasing to 55.4% from 54.6% the previous week, according to data released by the American Iron and Steel Institute on June 29.

Raw steel capability utilization has not been above 55% since the week ended April 25 and has been steadily increasing since the week ended June 6, when the utilization rate was at 53.3%.

Production increased by 1.3% to 1.240 million st during the week ended June 27 from 1.224 million st in the previous week, according to the data.

Last week’s production was down 33.4% compared with the same week a year earlier, when capacity utilization was at 80.1% and production totaled 1.863 million st.

The AISI calculated adjusted year-to-date production at 39.2 million st, with a capacity utilization rate of 67%. The total is 18.9% lower than that of the same period last year, when the utilization rate was 81.2% for 48.3 million st of output.

Other than the Southern district, which saw a 1.9% decrease in production, all regions saw week-on-week increases.

Last week’s production totaled 123,000 st in the Northeast; 409,000 st in the Great Lakes region; 132,000 st in the Midwest; 516,000 st in the Southern district and 60,000 st in the Western region, according to the data.

The weekly raw steel production volume AISI provides is estimated. The figures are compiled from weekly production data provided by 50% of domestic producers combined with monthly production data for the remainder.

— Ingrid Lexova