Steel Products Prices North America
August 14, 2018
Mill Utilization Hits New High for the Year
Written by Tim Triplett
U.S. mill capability utilization hit a new high for the year last week, inching closer to the industry’s desired 80 percent mark. The American Iron and Steel Institute reported a utilization rate for the week ending Aug. 11 of 79.1 percent, up from 78.0 percent in the prior week, and up from 75.8 percent in the same week last year. The previous high for mill utilization this year was 78.7 percent in March.
Raw steel production for the Aug. 11 week totaled 1,855,000 net tons, the fourth week in a row that steel output topped 1.8 million tons. Steel production in the U.S. was up 1.5 percent from the previous week and up 5.0 percent from the same period last year.
