Steel Products Prices North America
July 28, 2020
Mills Continue to Dial Up Capacity Utilization
Written by Tim Triplett
A possible indication that the economy and steel demand gradually continue to improve, domestic steelmakers increased raw steel production for the seventh week in a row to a total of 1,320,000 net tons in the period ending July 25 with the mills operating at an average utilization rate of 58.9 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. Production increased by 1.1 percent from the prior week when the utilization rate was 58.3 percent. However, the current week’s production still represents a 28.5 percent decrease from the same period last year due to the coronavirus.
Adjusted year-to-date production through July 25 totaled 44,553,000 net tons at an average utilization rate of 66.1 percent. That’s down 20.0 percent from the same period last year when the utilization rate was 80.9 percent.
