By Paul Ploumis

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): According to latest statistics released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the steel shipment by country’s mills increased considerably by nearly 6.4% month-on-month in March this year. However, the Mar ’17 shipments recorded modest increase of nearly 4.3%, when matched with the shipments during the same month in 2016.

The US steel mill shipments during March this year totaled 7,692,434 net tons, significantly higher by 6.4% when matched with 7,232,341 net tons shipped during February 2017. Year-on-year, the steel shipments registered increase of 4.3%. The shipments had totaled 7,377,392 net tons in March 2016. Several steel products witnessed significant rise in shipment volumes during the month. When matched with the prior month, shipments of hot rolled sheets surged by nearly 13%. The shipment of hot dipped galvanized sheets and strips was also up by 8%. Meantime, the shipment of cold rolled sheets has registered increase of nearly 8% in March this year, in comparison with the prior month.

The monthly steel exports totaled 860,562 mt in March this year, rising significantly by 14.6% over the previous month. The exports skyrocketed by 22.4% over same month the year before. The value of exports during the month totaled $1.1 billion, as compared with $950.1 million in February. The exports to Canada were up by 13.4% from the previous month to 405,487 mt. The exports to Mexico increased by 8.8% over the month to total 337,816 mt. The other top destinations of US steel exports in March were Italy (14,960 mt), India (9,506 mt), China (9,060 mt) and Korea (8,556 mt).

The steel shipments during the initial three-month period of the year registered 6% increase, rising from 21,348,141 net tons in Jan-Mar ’16 to 22,633,191 net tons during the corresponding three months in 2017.

Meantime, the weekly statistics released by the steel body indicates that raw steel production by the country declined marginally by 0.7% during the week ending on May 6, 2017.

The total domestic raw steel output during the week ending May 6th was 1,737,000 net tons. The AISI data indicates that the US raw steel production has edged lower marginally by 0.7% during the week. This is in comparison with the previous week (ie., the week ended April 29th)  production figures of 1,750,000 net tons. However, the weekly production represents marginal rise of 0.3% in comparison with production of 1,732,000 net tons during same week the previous year.

The capability utilization rate of US steel makers was 74.5% during the week ended May 6th, 2017. The capacity utilization rate has dropped slightly when compared with 75.1% during the previous week (ie., the week ending April 29th). However, capacity utilization rate was up when compared with the rate of 74.1% during same week the previous year.

The crude steel production by various districts during the week was as follows:- North East (210,000 NT), Great Lakes (687,000 NT), Midwest (170,000 NT), Southern (592,000 NT) and Western (78,000 NT).

The year-to-date crude steel output through May 6th, 2017 totaled 31,196,000 net tons, up by nearly 3.4% when matched with the output of 30,180,000 net tons during the same period last year. The capacity utilization rate during the period was up considerably from 72.1% a year before to 74.3% during the period ended May 6th 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.