US raw steel output up for fourth consecutive week, but halved from last year

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday that US raw steel production rose by 3.2 percent last week (ended May 23), compared to the prior week. Last week was the fourth consecutive week during which US raw steel production increased from the preceding week.

Total raw steel production in the United States for the week ended May 23 amounted to approximately 1,093,000 net tons (nt), according to the AISI, up from the reported 1,060,000 nt produced in the week ended May 16, 2009. US raw steel production for the corresponding week of 2008 totaled 2,173,000 nt, which is 49.7 percent more than last week's output.

US raw steel production, throughout in the first 19 weeks of the year, has followed similar rising and falling trends compared to the corresponding weeks of 2008, except, notably, output is down by about half compared to last year.

Percent capability utilization of US raw steelmaking facilities was 45.8 percent in the week ended May 23, 2009, compared to 44.4 percent in the prior week, and 91.1 percent in the same week of last year.

The AISI reports that year-to-date US raw steel production totaled 20,858,000 nt as of May 23, 2009, which reflects a 52.8 percent reduction in output from the 44,124,000 nt produced in the same period of last year. Year-to-date percent capability utilization as of May 23 was reported as 42.8 percent, which is down from the 90.6 percent YTD capability utilization rate for the same period of 2008.