US weekly output rises 1.5% to 2.1 million st: AISI

US raw steel production increased 1.5% to 2.118 million st in the week ended March 22, 2008, the American Iron and Steel Institute reported March 25. The weekly gain came after three consecutive weeks of declining output.

The latest week was highlighted by an increase of 28,000 st (+5.9%) in the Indiana/Chicago district, said the Washington, DC-based trade association.

Meanwhile, raw steel production remains below average in the Detroit district, due to a blast furnace outage at Severstal North America (Dearborn, Michigan) following an explosion in January.

Nationally, weekly steel production was 2.1% above total output reported for the same week a year ago, and US steelmakers used about 88.8% of available capacity in the current week compared with 86.3% a year ago.

The adjusted year-to-date production through March 22 was 24.707 million st, about 5.0% ahead of the 23.515 million st produced during the same period last year.

The capacity utilization rate over the first 12 weeks of 2008 was 88.4%, compared with last year's 83.0% through the same period.

The South produced the most steel for the week ending March 22, with output of 652,000 st (+0.6%), followed by Indiana/Chicago at 506,000 st (+5.9%); the Midwest at 271,000 st (+3.4); Pittsburgh/Youngstown at 218,000 st (+0.5%); the Northeast Coast at 184,000 st(-6.1%); Detroit at 115,000 st (+4.5%); Lake Erie at 83,000 st (+1.2%) and the West at 89,000 st (-2.2%).

AISI's figures are based on estimated raw steel production from a sampling of steel producers representing about 75% of US production capacity and include statistical revisions for previous months.

Created: March 26, 2008

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