Weekly domestic raw steel production declined 2.4% to 1.913 million tons (mt) for the week ending March 17, 2012, marking the largest decline since the year began, though still 5.9% above the year ago level. The highest production since the recession began was 1.959 mt on March 10, 2012, while the lowest was 0.8 mt on December 27, 2008.

The capacity utilization rate also posted the largest decline of the year, coming in at 77.4% compared to 79.3% last week, although this was still higher than the year ago level of 73.9%. The highest capacity utilization rate since the recession began was 79.3% on March 10, 2012, while the lowest was 33.5% on December 27, 2008.

Note: AISI weekly production data only includes real-time input from 50% of producing members; the remainder of the data is a guesstimate based on each company’s prior-month production and therefore the weekly AISI data lags when there are production cuts or increases going on.

Source: AISI and Steel Market Intelligence