Weekly domestic raw steel production grew 3.1% to 1.958 million tons (mt) for the week ending April 7, 2012, up 7.7% versus the year-ago level and just shy of the post-recession high of 1.959 mt seen on March 10, 2012.  The lowest production since the recession began was 0.8 mt on December 27, 2008.

The capacity utilization rate also rose, coming in at 79.2%, compared to 76.9% last week and was higher than the year-ago level of 74.3%.  Capacity utilization was slightly below the post-recession high of 79.3% recorded on March 10, 2012.   The lowest capacity utilization rate since the recession began 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