April 18, 2017 04:00:17 AM
ALBANY (Scrap Monster): According to latest statistics released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the steel shipment by country’s mills declined significantly by nearly 6.2% month-on-month in February this year. However, the Feb ’17 shipments recorded modest increase of nearly 2.4%, when matched with the shipments during the same month in 2016.

The US steel mill shipments during February this year totaled 7,232,341 net tons, significantly lower by 6.2% when matched with 7,708,416 net tons shipped during January 2017. Year-on-year, the steel shipments registered increase of 2.4%. The shipments had totaled 7,059,442 net tons in February 2016. Several steel products witnessed significant decline in shipment volumes during the month. When matched with the prior month, shipments of cold rolled sheets plunged lower by 8%. The shipment of hot dipped galvanized sheets and strips was also down by 6%. Meantime, the shipment of hot rolled sheets declined by nearly 3% in February 2017, in comparison with the prior month.

The steel shipments during the initial two-month period of the year registered 6% increase, rising by nearly 6% from 14,090,749 net tons in Jan-Feb ’16 to 14,940,757 net tons during the corresponding two months in 2017.

The monthly steel exports totaled 827,559 net tons in February this year, rising slightly by 1.1% over the previous month. The exports were up significantly by 6.2% over the year. The exports to Mexico were up by 3.1% to 342,318 net tons. The exports to the EU region surged higher by 61% to 30,462 net tons. On the other hand, exports to Canada declined by over 3% month-on-month to 394,313 net tons.

The cumulative steel exports by the country during the initial two months of 2017 increased sharply by 5.4% over the previous year to total 1.65 million net tons. The exports to Mexico rose 13.5% to 674,219 net tons. The shipments to Canada totaled 801,559 net tons, up by 2.3% over the corresponding two-month period in 2016. A significant jump of 34.2% was witnessed in exports to the EU region during Jan-Feb ’17.

Meantime, the weekly statistics released by the steel body indicates that raw steel production by the country increased marginally by 2.2% during the week ending on April 15, 2017.

The total domestic raw steel output during the week ending April 15th was 1,740,000 net tons. The AISI data indicates that the US raw steel production has jumped higher slightly by 2.2% during the week. This is in comparison with the previous week (ie., the week ended April 8th)  production figures of 1,703,000 net tons. Also, the weekly production represents marginal rise of 2.5% in comparison with production of 1,698,000 net tons during same week the previous year.

The capability utilization rate of US steel makers was 74.6% during the week ended April 15th, 2017. The capacity utilization rate has increased marginally when compared with 73.0% during the previous week (ie., the week ending April 8th). Also, capacity utilization rate was up when compared with the rate of 72.6% during same week the previous year.

The crude steel production by various districts during the week was as follows:- North East (195,000 NT), Great Lakes (645,000 NT), Midwest (173,000 NT), Southern (647,000 NT) and Western (80,000 NT).

The year-to-date crude steel output through April 15th, 2017 totaled 25,994,000 net tons, up by nearly 3.8% when matched with the output of 25,053,000 net tons during the same period last year. The capacity utilization rate during the period was up considerably from 71.6% a year before to 74.3% during the period ended April 15th this year.

About AISI

AISI serves as the voice of the North American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI also plays a lead role in the development and application of new steels and steelmaking technology. AISI is comprised of 19 member companies, including integrated and electric furnace steelmakers, and approximately 125 associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry.