Steel Products Prices North America
May 19, 2020
Steel Mill Utilization Holding Steady in the Low 50s
Written by Tim Triplett
In the week ending May 16, steel production totaled 1,181,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average capability utilization rate of 52.7 percent. Production was down 1.9 percent from the prior week when output totaled 1,204,000 tons at a utilization rate of 53.7 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. Mill utilization is down around 30 percentage points from early March due to the coronavirus, but is holding fairly steady within a narrow range in the low 50s at rates comparable to the summer of 2009 when the market was coming out of the Great Recession.
Adjusted year-to-date production through May 16 totaled 32,040,000 net tons at an average utilization rate of 71.2 percent–down 13.6 percent from production in the same period last year when the average utilization rate was 81.4 percent.
