Weekly domestic raw steel production dropped 2.4% to 1.900 million tons (mt) for the week ending March 31, 2012, but was up 4.9% against 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 a decrease, coming in at 76.9% compared to 78.8% last week, but was higher than the year-ago level of 74.1%. 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