Local steel production plunges by 24,000 tons

14 December 2017

Great Lakes steel production dropped to 607,000 tons last week, a decrease of 3.8 percent.

Steel mills in the Great Lakes region made 631,000 tons of metal the previous week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Most of the steel made in the Great Lakes region is produced in Lake and Porter counties in Northwest Indiana.

So far this year, U.S. steelmakers have produced 85 million tons of steel, about 4.3 percent more than they did during the same period in 2016. Domestic steel mills have been running at a capacity of 74.5 percent so far this year, up from 70.5 percent through the same time last year.

Domestic steelmakers used about 71.7 percent of their steelmaking capacity in the week that ended Dec. 9, down from 73.8 percent the previous week but up significantly from 67.8 percent at the same time a year earlier, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Some analysts say steelmaking capacity utilization of about 90 percent is considered financially healthy for the industry.

Overall, U.S. national steel output fell by 31,000 tons last week to 1.67 million tons, a decrease of 1.82 percent, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Production in the Southern district, usually the second largest steelmaking region after the Great Lakes, dropped to 621,000 tons last week, down 3.12 percent from 641,000 tons a week earlier. Steel output in the Midwest ticked up to 169,000 tons last week, up from 168,000 tons a week earlier.

 

Source: nwitimes.com