According to a May 25 release by the American Iron and Steel Institute, (AISI), for the week ending May 22, 2010, US domestic raw steel production was 1,787,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 73.9 percent. Production was 1,026,000 tons in the week ending May 22, 2009, while the capability utilization then was 42.8 percent. The current week production represents a 74.2 percent year-on-year increase from the same period in 2009. Production for the week ending May 22, 2010 declined 0.6 percent from the previous week ending May 15, 2010 when production was 1,797,000 tons and the rate of capability utilization was 74.3 percent.
Adjusted year-to-date production through May 22, 2010 was 34,197,000 tons, at a capability utilization rate of 69.7 percent. That is a 66.7 percent increase from the 20,521,000 tons during the same period last year, when the capability utilization rate was 42.5 percent.
Broken down by districts, the production for the week ending May 22, 2010 in thousands of net tons is as follows: Northeast Coast: 146; Pittsburgh/Youngstown: 119; Lake Erie: 49; Detroit: 124; Indiana/Chicago: 490; Midwest: 234; Southern: 544 and Western: 81.