The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Monday that US raw steel production fell 3.9 percent in the week ending January 5, following a 0.7 percent decrease the previous week.
Total raw steel production in the United States amounted to 1,756,000 net tons (nt) last week, representing a 3.9 percent decline from the 1,827,000 nt produced in the previous week and a 7.7 percent drop from the 1,902,000 nt produced in the same week a year ago.
The capacity utilization rate of US raw steelmaking facilities was 72.6 percent in the week ending January 5, compared to 73.9 percent in the previous week and 76.9 percent in the same week last year.
However, the AISI noted that capability for Q1 2013 is approximately 30.8 million tons versus 32.3 million tons for the same period last year and 32.7 million tons for Q4 2012. Production capability for 2013 reflects the closure of several steelmaking facilities in 2012, new facilities coming on-line and improvements made to existing facilities to increase their capability. When comparing capability utilization rates between 2013 and 2012, the user of this data should take into account the change to capability for 2013 in analyzing the data.