Weekly steel output down slightly

The Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) says steel output in the United States dropped by 0.6 percent in the week ending Oct. 23 compared with the week before.

The weekly figure of 1.87 million tons was made with mills running at a capability utilization (capacity) rate of 84.7 percent. Those figures remain healthy compared with conditions one year ago, when 1.55 million tons of steel were produced in the U.S. with mills operating at 70.1 percent of capacity.

Year-to-date production through Oct. 23 stands at slightly more than 77 million tons, with an average capacity rate of 81.3 percent. That is up 20.3 percent from the approximately 64 million tons made during the same period last year, when the capacity rate averaged 67.1 percent.

In the week just completed, the AISI’s Southern district made more steel than other regions in the U.S at 782,000 tons. It was followed by the Great Lakes region at 635,000 tons, the Midwest at 201,000 tons, the North East at 176,000 tons and the Western region at 76,000 tons.

AISI also says, “Given the large number of changes to steelmaking capability in the current rapidly evolving market environment, AISI is undertaking a comprehensive review of its raw steel production and capability utilization statistics to ensure that they accurately reflect market conditions. Any updates to capability will be phased in over several weeks. Capability for the fourth quarter 2021 is approximately 29.0 million tons."