Weekly domestic raw steel production fell 2.1% from 1.850 million tons (mt) last week to 1.812 mt for the week ending November 30, 2013, taking the largest drop since July 6, 2013 and falling to the lowest rate since March 23, 2013.  Production is now some 0.3% below the year-ago level of 1.818 mt.

Capacity utilization also fell from 77.2% last week to 75.6% this week, also the lowest since March 23, 2013, but is above the year-ago level of 73.6%.

The lowest production since the recession began was 800,000 tons for the week of December 27, 2008, while the highest was 2.005 mt for the week of May 12, 2012. The lowest capacity utilization rate since the recession began was 33.5% for the week of December 27, 2008; the highest was 81.1% on May 12, 2012.

We would caution readers that only half of the AISI reporting companies release their weekly production in “real time” so the other half of this data is estimated using the last month’s reported production & operating rate. What this means is that when production is changing, the weekly data is actually understating the change.

Source: AISI and Steel Market Intelligence