US domestic steel production creeps up

As was reported this week by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), during the week ended December 16, 2006, raw steel production in the US increased by 1.8 percent to 1.895 million net tons (nt). The previous week's numbers showed 1.860 million nt of raw steel produced by the US. Steel production for the week ended December 16 was down 2.4 percent from the 1.942 million net tons produced the same week of last year. The Southern district produced the most raw steel for the week ended December 16, 2006, with a total of 621,000 nt, followed by the Indiana/Chicago district with 488,000 nt. The district that produced the least raw steel was the Lake Erie district, with 81,000 nt. Year-to-date net tonnage broke the 100 million nt mark as of December 16, 2006 coming in at 101,657 million nt, compared to YTD net tonnage of 98.6 million nt on December 16, 2005.