US raw steel mill utilization rates climbed to 80% in the week ended April 18 from 79.8% the previous week, the American Iron and Steel Institute reported April 20.

Production during the week totaled 1.848 million net tons, equivalent to short tons, up 0.3% from the week ended April 11, when production was 1.843 million nt.

Production increased 9.7% from the corresponding week a year ago, when capability utilization was 75% to 1.684 million nt.

Adjusted year-to-date production through April 18 totaled 27.719 million nt, with a capability utilization rate of 77.7%. This is up 5.8% from the 26.203 million nt produced in the same period a year ago, when the utilization rate was 76.1%.

Broken down by AISI district, production totaled 133,000 nt in the Northeast, 525,000 nt in the Great Lakes region, 295,000 nt in the Midwest, 823,000 nt in the Southern district, and 72,000 nt in the Western region.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the daily TSI US hot-rolled coil index at $1,045/st on an ex-works Indiana basis April 20, unchanged from its previous assessment