Steel Products Prices North America
July 20, 2021
AISI: Steel Mill Utilization Tops 84.0%
Written by David Schollaert
The average utlization rate for U.S. steel mills reached 84.1% in the week ending July 17, while domestic raw steel production totaled 1,859,000 net tons, up for the third consecutive week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Weekly output was up 0.4% when compared with the week prior when production was 1,852,000 net tons and average utilization was 83.6%.
Last week’s output represents a 37.7% increase from year-ago levels, when production was 1,350,000 net tons and utilization was just 60.3% as the pandemic continued to disrupt steel demand. Although production was up 0.4% week on week, AISI cut estimated annual production by 0.2% over the same period, and nearly 3.0% over the past eight weeks, in an attempt to adjust capacity data to better reflect current mill throughput. AISI presently estimates U.S. domestic mill capacity at 114.9 million tons, down from 118.0 million tons in May.
