Weekly US steel mill capability utilization drops to 55.8%: AISI

US raw steel capability utilization saw a further decrease last week, down to 55.8% from 57.1% the previous week, American Iron and Steel Institute data showed Monday.

Last week’s production comprised 127,000 st in the Northeast; 437,000 st in the Great Lakes region; 132,000 st in the Midwest; 501,000 st in the Southern district and 53,000 st in the Western region, according to the data.

Raw steel production was at its lowest level since the week ended August 29, 2009.

Production fell by 2.1% to 1.250 million st during the most recent week from 1.277 million st in the previous week, according to the data.

Last week’s production was down 33.9% compared with the same week a year earlier, when capacity utilization was at 81.3% and production totaled 1.892 million st.

The AISI calculated adjusted year-to-date production at 28.85 million st, with a capacity utilization rate of 75.4%. The total was 8.3% lower than that of the same period last year, when the utilization rate was 81.5% for 31.449 million st of output.

-- Ingrid Lexova