Pittsburgh (Platts)--3Dec2012/515 pm EST/2215 GMT

US raw steel production rebounded a solid 3.1% after the Thanksgiving holiday, as production in the week that ended Saturday reached 1.818 million st, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute said Monday.

Average capability utilization for the week was 73.6% last week. For the week that ended November 24, US mills produced 1.764 million st of steel, operating at utilization rate of 71.4%.

Last week's production was about even with the same week of 2011. In the comparable week of 2011 -- the 48th week -- US steel mills produced 1.816 million st of steel, operating at 73.3% capability utilization.

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Through December 1, mills produced 89.9 million st of steel, which is 3.1% higher than the 87.3 million st produced in the same period of last year. Average capability utilization in 2012 has been 75.8%, compared with 74.4% in the same period of 2011.

The Southern production district made significant gains last week, offsetting a plummet in Western production and small fluctuations in other districts.

The Southern region's production reached 617,000 st, up 11.8% from the prior week's output of 552,000 st. The Northeast region's production also picked up by 3%, reaching 204,000 st last week, compared with the previous week's total of 198,000 st.

Western production fell by 11.9%, or an estimated 10,000 st week on week to 74,000 st from the previous week's 84,000 st output.

Midwestern production edged down by 1% to 262,000 st from the previous week's production total of 265,000 st. Great Lakes production decreased by 4,000 st, which is a less than 1% change. The region's output last week was an estimated 661,000 st, down from 665,000 a week earlier.

AISI determines its weekly raw steel production data based on weekly data from 50% of the domestic industry and estimates the rest using monthly production data.

--Estelle Tran, estelle_tran@platts.com
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com

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