Steel output in US meets last year’s level

Crude steel production in the United States in the week ending Dec. 23 was 7.4 percent greater than the comparable week in 2022, putting the nation’s steel producers on track to slightly surpass last year’s output for the entire year.

Figures released by the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) indicate mills in the U.S. made about 1.693 million tons of steel in the week leading up to Christmas. That volume was 7.4 percent greater than the 1.576 million tons made the week ending Dec. 23, 2022.

Bringing less holiday cheer, however, was a 1.2 percent week-to-week decline in steelmaking. In the week ending Dec. 16, steel production checked in at 1.714 million tons.

With just one full week of steel production remaining, U.S. mills have made slightly more than 87 million tons of steel through Dec. 23.

That output is up 0.1 percent from the slightly more than 86.95 tons made during the first 51 weeks of last year. Provided domestic output stays at or above last year’s level during the final week of this year, the U.S. will experience a slight uptick in overall steel production this year, albeit essentially at a statistically flat level.

Mills have operated at an average capability utilization (capacity) rate of 75.4 percent this year, too. That is more than 2 percent lower compared with the same period last year, when the mill capacity rate averaged 77.5 percent.