Raw steel production shot up to 656,000 tons in the Great Lakes region last week, after a big slide the previous week.
Local steel output soared by 28,000 tons, or 4.4 percent in the week that ended Saturday, according to an American Iron and Steel Institute estimate. Overall U.S. steel production still dipped by 0.5 percent.
Most of the raw steel production in the Great Lakes region takes place in the Chicago area, chiefly Lake and Porter counties in Indiana.
Production in the Southern District, typically the nation's second-biggest steel-producing region, plummeted to 592,000 tons last week, down from 621,000 tons a week earlier.
Total domestic raw steel production last week was about 1.76 million tons, down from 1.769 million tons a week earlier.
Nationally, domestic steel mills had a capacity utilization rate of 74.4 percent last week, down from 74.8 percent a week earlier. The capacity utilization rate had been 75.8 percent at the same time a year earlier.
Year-to-date output was 11.6 million net tons, at a capacity utilization rate of 76.5 percent, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Production so far this year trails the 2014 rate by 0.8 percent.
Steel shipments rose 4.5 percent to 7.97 million net tons in December. Hot-rolled sheets were up 7 percent in December, while hot-dipped galvanized sheets rose 5 percent.
Cold-rolled sheet was up 1 percent in the last month of 2014.
Source: Nw Times
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