Great Lakes Steel Output Falls By 24,000 Tons

26 October 2016

Raw steel production in the Great Lakes region slid to 632,000 tons last week, down from 656,000 tons a week earlier, a decrease of 3.6 percent.

Capacity utilization nationwide was only 67.3 percent last week, the seventh straight week it’s been mired under 70 percent. Overall U.S. steel output rose slightly by 7,000 tons last week to 1.597 million tons, according to an American Iron and Steel Institute estimate.

Nationally, steel output so far this year continues to trail the sluggish 2015 pace by about 1.37 million tons, a decline of 1.8 percent. In 2015, during the worst import crisis in more than a decade, steel output in the United States declined by 10.5 percent from the year before, according to the World Steel Association.

Much of the raw steel production in the Great Lakes region takes place in Lake and Porter counties in Indiana.

Production in the Southern District, which spans mini-mills across the South, increased to 556,000 tons last week, up from 511,000 tons the previous week, an 8.8 percent gain.

National steel production through Oct. 22 of this year totaled 71.9 million tons, a decline of 1.9 percent, at a capacity utilization rate of 71.5 percent. The United States made 73.3 million tons of steel at a capacity utilization rate of 71.7 percent through the same period last year.

 

Source : nwitimes.com

Great Lakes steel output falls by 19,000 tons

25 January 2017

Great Lakes steel production fell to 648,000 tons last week, a 2.8 percent decrease from the 667,000 tons of output the previous week.

Domestic steelmakers used about 71.8 percent of their steelmaking capacity in the week that ended Jan. 21, down from 72.3 percent the previous week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. It was up from 68.7 percent during the same time period in 2016 but still well below the 90 percent capacity utilization some analysts consider healthy for the industry.

Overall U.S. steel output dropped by 13,000 tons last week to 1.7 million tons, a decrease of 0.75 percent, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute estimate.

The Great Lakes region, chiefly Lake and Porter counties in Indiana, again led the nation in steel production, as it usually does.

Output in the Southern District, which spans mini-mills across the South, rose to 616,000 tons last week, up from 600,000 tons the previous week, a 2.6 percent increase.

So far this year, U.S. steelmakers have produced 5.1 million tons of steel, about 5.8 percent more than they did during the same period in 2016. Capacity utilization for the year is 71.8 percent, up from 68.7 percent at the same time in 2016.

 

Source:nwitimes.com