Weekly US raw steel production declines slightly

According to data released from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), domestic raw steel production fell slightly to 2.101 million net tons during the week ended February 18, 2006. This is a decrease from the previous week, in which 2.118 million net tons were produced, and a decrease from the week ended February 18, 2005, in which 2.105 million net tons were produced. The areas with the most production activity, both last week and the week previous, were the Indiana/Chicago area, which produced 544,000 net tons during the week ended February 18, and the Southern US, which produced 658,000 net tons during the same week. Overall capacity utilization fell to 88.2 percent from 88.9 percent the previous week, and fell from the 92.9 percent utilization rate achieved during the same week last year. Year-to-date net tonnage produced was 14.53 million net tons for the week ended February 18, 2006, slightly under the amount of raw steel produced in the same period last year, 14.56 million net tons.