Steel Products Prices North America
March 19, 2019
Weekly Steel Mill Utilization at 82.9 Percent
Written by Tim Triplett
Production at U.S. steel mills eased slightly in the week ending March 16, maintaining an average capability utilization rate of 82.9 percent, down from the 10-year high of 83.4 percent reported in the prior week. Domestic raw steel production for the week totaled 1,930,000 net tons, down 0.6 percent from the prior week but up 5.7 percent from the same period last year when the mills operated at 78.3 percent of capacity, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute.
The U.S. steel industry has produced 20,310,000 tons of steel so far in 2019, a 6.7 percent increase from the same period last year. Mill utilization has averaged 81.4 percent this year, up nearly 5 percentage points from the 76.6 percent in 2018.
