Steel Products Prices North America
January 3, 2019
U.S. Mills Produce 6.2 Percent More Steel in 2018
Written by Tim Triplett
Cranking out steel at more than 80 percent of capacity late in the year, U.S. mills produced over 95 million tons of raw steel in 2018, 6.2 percent more than the prior year, according to weekly production data from the American Iron and Steel Institute. The average capacity utilization rate for the year increased by more than 4 percentage points to 78.3 percent from 74.0 percent in 2017.
Raw steel production by U.S. steelmakers in the last week of the year ended Dec. 29 totaled 1,899,000 net tons, with the mills operating at 81.0 percent of their capability despite the Christmas holiday. Steel production increased by 1.6 percent from the prior week and 13.3 percent from the same week the prior year when the average capacity utilization was 71.9 percent.
