In the week ending May 8, 2010, US domestic raw steel production was 1,776,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 73.4 percent. Production was 1,026,000 tons in the week ending May 8, 2009, while the capability utilization then was 42.8 percent. The current week production represents a 73.1 percent increase from the same period in the previous year. Production for the week ending May 8, 2010 is up 1.3 percent from the previous week ending May 1, 2010 when production was 1,754,000 tons and the rate of capability utilization was 72.5 percent.
Adjusted year-to-date production through May 8, 2010 was 30,613,000 tons, at a capability utilization rate of 69.2 percent. That is a 65.8 percent increase from the 18,470,000 tons during the same period last year, when the capability utilization rate was 42.5 percent.
Broken down by districts, the production for the week ending May 8, 2010 in thousands of net tons is as follows: Northeast Coast: 149; Pittsburgh/Youngstown: 115; Lake Erie: 39; Detroit: 131; Indiana/Chicago: 461; Midwest: 226; Southern: 572 and Western: 83.