Domestic steel production takes a slight dive

As was reported this week by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), during the week ended October 21, 2006, raw steel production in the US dropped by 3.5 percent to 1.910 million net tons (nt). The previous week's numbers showed 1.980 nt of raw steel produced by the US, 3.5 percent greater than the amount produced for the week ended October 21. In comparison to last year's numbers for the week ended October 21, raw steel production was also on the decline, decreasing by 6.3 percent from the previous week. The Southern district produced the most raw steel for the week ended October 21, 2006, producing 576,000 nt, followed by the Indiana/Chicago district, producing 505,000 nt. The district that produced the least raw steel was the Lake Erie district, with 88,000 nt. Year-to-date net tonnage as of October 21 was 86.8 million nt, compared to YTD net tonnage of 82.6 million nt on October 21, 2005.