Pittsburgh (Platts)--28Jan2013/526 pm EST/2226 GMT

US raw steel production edged down last week after two straight weeks of increases, according to data the American Iron and Steel Institute released Monday.

Steel production totaled 1.806 million st for the week ended January 26, down 1% from the prior week's 1.824 million st.

Capability utilization edged down to 75.4% last week from 76.1% the week before. Production fell 5.8% from the comparable week of 2012, when mills produced 1.918 million st and operated at 77.6% capability utilization.

Year-to-date steel output totaled 7.21 million st, down about 5.9% from the 7.66 million st yielded in the same period last year. Average capability utilization so far this year has been 75%, down from 77.6% in the same period of 2012.

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Steel production fell in all AISI districts except the Northeast, where production was 196,000 st, up 3.2% from 190,000 st the week before.

Great Lakes steel output fell to 652,000 st, down 2.2% from 667,000 st the prior week. Steel production in the Midwest was 262,000 st, down 0.4% from the week before. In the South, steel output was 610,000 st, down 1.1% from the week before and, in the West, steel output for the week was 86,000 st, down 1.1% from the week prior.

AISI determines its weekly raw steel production data based on weekly data from 50% of the domestic industry and estimates the rest using monthly output data. Year-on-year capability utilization statistics are not directly comparable because AISI estimated first-quarter 2013 production capability at about 30.8 million st, compared with 32.3 million st in Q1 2012.

--Estelle Tran, estelle_tran@platts.com
--Edited by Valarie Jackson, valarie_jackson@platts.com

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