US raw steel mill utilization rates increased to 76.1% in the week ended Dec. 21, up from 74.3% the previous week, the American Iron and Steel Institute reported Dec. 23.

Production during the week totaled 1.690 million st, up 2.4% from the week ended Dec. 14, when production was at 1.651 million st.

Production decreased less than 1% from the corresponding year-ago week when capability utilization was at 74.2%, and production totaled 1.705 million st.

Adjusted year-to-date production through Dec. 21 totaled 85.526 million st, with a capability utilization rate of 75.7%. This is down 2.3% from the 87.537 million st produced in the same period a year ago, when the utilization rate was 76%.

Broken down by AISI district, production totaled 134,000 st in the Northeast, 562,000 st in the Great Lakes region, 216,000 st in the Midwest, 720,000 st in the Southern District, and 58,000 st in the Western region.

--- S&P Global Commodity Insights.