The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Tuesday that during the week ended November 15, 2008, raw steel production in the US totaled 1.4 million net tons, marking a significant 10.1 percent decrease in production from the previous week and a remarkable 33.7 percent reduction in tons produced compared to the same week of 2007.
The recent production cuts made by US mills were readily apparent in the data, which showed raw steelmaking capacity utilization totaling only 58.7 percent for the week ended November 15, compared to 65.2 percent in the prior week and 88.5 percent in the same week of last year.
Year-to-date, AISI's data show 93.4 million nt were produced as of November 15, or 1.4 percent less than in the same period of 2007.
The region of the US which saw the largest reduction in raw steel production in the week ended November 15 compared to the prior week was the Southern District, where tonnage dropped to 396,000 nt, down 84,000 nt from the week ended November 8.
AISI's raw steel production report is estimated based on a sampling of American steel producers. Raw steel is steel that is in the first solid state after melting, suitable for further processing or sale, including ingots, steel for castings and strand or pressure cast blooms, slabs or other product forms.