US domestic steel production slightly down

As reported this week by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), during the week ended December 9, 2006, raw steel production in the US decreased by 0.2 percent to 1.860 million net tons (nt). The previous week's numbers showed 1.865 million nt of raw steel produced by the US. Steel production for the week ended December 9 was down 4.2 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 9, 2006, with an output of 605,000 nt, followed by the Indiana/Chicago district, which produced 469,000 nt. The district that produced the least raw steel was the Lake Erie district, with 80,000 nt. Year-to-date net tonnage as of December 9 was 99.8 million nt, compared to YTD net tonnage of 96.7 million nt on December 9, 2005.