US steel production takes end of the year dive

As reported this week by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), during the week ended December 30, 2006, raw steel production in the US dropped by 9.8 percent to 1.639 million net tons (nt) with mills working at an average capability utilization rate of 70.2 percent. The previous week's numbers showed 1.818 million nt of raw steel produced by the US with mills operating at a 77.8 percent capability utilization rate. Steel production for the week ended December 30 was down 15.6 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 30, 2006, with 485,000 nt, followed by the Indiana/Chicago district with 411,000 nt. The district that produced the least raw steel was the Western district, with 74,000 nt. Year-to-date net tonnage as of December 30 was 105.1 million nt, compared to YTD net tonnage of 102.5 million nt on December 30, 2005.