US raw steel production higher in four of five production regions: AISI
Pittsburgh (Platts)--17Dec2012/513 pm EST/2213 GMT
US raw steel production ticked back up in the week ended December 15,
recovering the 0.9% drop in production seen the week before, American Iron
and Steel Institute data released Monday showed.
The western production district saw a significant week-on-week bound,
while the other three regions had higher production volumes, AISI said.
US steel mills produced 1.827 million st of steel last week, up 1.4%
from the 1.802 million st yielded in the week before. Capability utilization
increased to 73.9% last week, up from 72.9%.
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Last week's production was down 1.9% on the year-ago month's 1.863
million st, when mills operated at 75.2% of capacity.
Year-long production through December 15 totaled 93.56 million st, a
2.8% increase on the 90.98 million st manufactured in the same period last
year. Average capability utilization this year has been 75.7%, up from 74.4%.
Output picked up in four of five of the districts but most notably in
the West. The western district produced 91,000 st of steel last week, a 21.3%
increase from 75,000 st the week before. The southern district's production
reached 632,000 st last week, up 2.1% from 619,000 st. Midwestern steel
production climbed to 265,000 st, a 2.3% boost week on week from 259,000 st.
Great Lakes production edged up to 659,000 st, a 0.8% increase from 654,000
st yielded in the prior week.
The northeastern region registered the only decline, as steel production
fell to 180,000 st last week -- a 7.7% week-on-week production decrease from
195,000 st.
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 Richard Rubin, richard_rubin@platts.com