US raw steel production posts 2.7% weekly drop

 

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): As per the statistics released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the raw steel production by the country declined during the week ended May 9th, 2015. The raw steel output has declined for the first time after rising continuously for four weeks in a row.

 

The total raw steel output during the week ending May 9th was 1,665,000 net tons. The AISI data indicates that the US raw steel production has dropped by 2.7% during the week. This is in comparison with the previous week (ie., the week ended May 2nd)  production figures of 1,712,000 net tons. Also, the weekly output represents a sharp decline of 10.5% in comparison with production of 1,860,000 net tons during same week the previous year.

 

The capability utilization rate of US steel makers was 70.4% during the week ended May 9th, 2015.

 

The capacity utilization rate has declined marginally when compared to 72.4% during the previous week (ie., the week ending May 2nd). However, capacity utilization was considerably lower when compared with the rate of 77.3% 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 May 2nd	Week ended May 9th
North East	217	221	+1.84
Great Lakes	650	610	-6.15
Southern	546	556	+1.83
Western	90	85	-5.56
Midwest	209	193	-7.66

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.