Steel Products Prices North America
November 20, 2018
Mill Capacity Utilization Tops 82 Percent
Written by Brett Linton
Mill utilization among domestic steelmakers continues to inch upward and is now well above the profitable 80 percent level the industry hopes to maintain. U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Nov. 17 totaled 1,924,000 net tons for a capability utilization rate of 82.1 percent, a half-percent more than the prior week and a 12.6 percent jump from the prior year when the industry was operating at 73.3 percent of its capacity.
Adjusted year-to-date production through Nov. 17 totaled 83,733,000 net tons at an average capability utilization rate of 78.0 percent, up 5.5 percent from the same period last year when the capability utilization was 74.2 percent.
