ALBANY (Scrap Monster): As per the statistics released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the raw steel production by the country dropped marginally during the week ended March 28th, 2015. The weekly output had rebounded during the week prior to this after posting steady decline for many weeks in a row.

The total raw steel output during the week ending March 28th was 1,628,000 net tons. The AISI data indicates that the US raw steel production has declined slightly by 0.7% during the week. This is in comparison with the previous week (ie., the week ended March 21st)  production figures of 1,639,000 net tons. Also, the weekly output represents a sharp decline of 12.8% in comparison with production of 1,868,000 net tons during same week the previous year.

The capability utilization rate of US steel makers was 68.9% during the week ended March 28th, 2015.

The capacity utilization rate has declined marginally lower when compared to 69.3% during the previous week (ie., the week ending March 21st). On the other hand, capacity utilization was lower when compared with the rate of 77.7% during same week the previous year.

 The region-wise comparative weekly production figures are provided below:-    

Region	Steel production (in ‘000 nt)		% Change
	Week ended Mar 21st	Week ended Mar 28th
North East	194	195	+0.52
Great Lakes	612	579	-5.39
Southern	536	556	+3.73
Western	83	85	+2.41
Midwest	214	213	-0.47

 

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) is an association of North American steel producers. AISI's member companies represent over three quarters of both U.S. and North American steel capacity.

AISI determines its weekly raw steel production data based on weekly data from 50% of the domestic industry and estimates the rest using monthly production data.