Weekly domestic raw steel production decreased 0.8% from 1.845 million tons (mt) last week, which was a three-month high, to 1.831 mt for the week ending February 22, 2014.  Production is some 0.7% below the year-ago level of 1.843 mt.

Capacity utilization also decreased from last week’s three-month high of 77.0% to 76.3% this week.  The rate is now below the year-ago level of 76.9%.

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