Steel Products Prices North America
April 21, 2020
Declines in Raw Steel Production Starting to Level Out?
Written by Tim Triplett
U.S. raw steel production actually inched up last week after a series of declines that has taken the average mill capacity utilization rate down by 25 percentage points since early March. Production in the April 18 week totaled 1,277,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average capability utilization rate of 57.0 percent, down sharply from the 82+ percent level last month, but up slightly from a rate of 56.1 percent in the week ending April 11, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. The last time raw steel production was this low was in 2009. The current week’s production represents a 32.5 percent decrease from the same week last year.
Adjusted year-to-date production through April 18 totaled 27,600,000 net tons at an average utilization rate of 76.6 percent–down 6.6 percent from production in the same period last year when the average utilization rate was 81.5 percent.
