Weekly domestic raw steel production fell 1.0% from 1.835 million tons (mt) last week to 1.817 mt for the week ending October 26, 2013, decreasing to the lowest amount since March 23, 2013. Despite the decline, production remains some 8.2% above the year-ago level of 1.679 mt.
Capacity utilization decreased from 76.6% last week to 75.8% this week, also falling to a seven-month low, but is above the year-ago level of 67.9%.
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