The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has reported that US raw steel production dropped further last week (which ended February 28, 2009), with output declining by approximately 1.8 percent from the prior week.
Total raw steel production in the United States last week amounted to 980,000 nt. This compares to 998,000 nt produced in the prior week (ended February 21, 2009) and the 2,186,000 nt produced in the same week of the previous year (reflecting a 55.2 percent drop from the year-ago week).
Year-to-date, AISI reported, US raw steel production totaled 8,651,000 nt on February 28, 2009, which reflects a 52.7 percent reduction in output from the 18,281,000 nt produced in the same period of last year. Year-to-date percent capability utilization as of February 28 was reported as 43.4 percent, which is down from the 90.9 percent YTD capability utilization for the same period of 2008.