The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has reported that US raw steel production decreased by six percent last week (ended March 14), erasing gains seen in the previous week.
Total raw steel production in the United States last week amounted to approximately 976,000 net tons (nt), according to AISI. This figure represents a decrease of 6.0 percent from the 1.038,000 nt produced in the prior week (ended March 7, 2009), bringing production to about the same level as two weeks ago. Compared to the same week of 2008, US raw steel production last week was down 54.4 percent.
Percent capability utilization of US raw steelmaking facilities was 40.9 percent in the week ended March 14, 2009, compared to 43.5 percent in the prior week, and 89.7 percent in the same week of last year.
Year-to-date, AISI reported, US raw steel production totaled 10,665,000 on March 14, 2009, which reflects a 52.8 percent reduction in output from the 22,561,000 nt produced in the same period of last year. Year-to-date percent capability utilization as of March 14 was reported as 42.9 which is down from the 90.5 percent YTD capability utilization rate for the same period of 2008.