AISI reports 1.0 percent week-on-week rise in production for
week ending July 2; output down year to date.
Steelmakers in the United States produced slightly more
steel in the week straddling the end of June and the start of July compared
with the previous week.
Statistics gathered by the Washington-based American Iron and
Steel Institute (AISI) show in the week ending on July 2, 2022, steel output in
the U.S. was 1.767 million tons. That represents a 1.0 increase in production
compared with the 1.75 million tons made the previous week ending June 25,
2022.
The mill capability utilization (capacity) rate in the most
recently measured week was 80.9 percent, also up slightly from the 80.2 percent
figure the week before.
Year-on-year comparisons are not as positive. One year ago, in the
week ending July 2, 2021, steelmakers produced 1.849 million tons while
operating at an 83.4 percent capacity rate. The output figure is down 4.4
percent year on year.
Year-to-date production through July 2, 2022, stands as slightly
less than 45.87 million tons, which is down 2.2 percent from the 46.9 million
tons produced during the first half of 2021.
In the first half of this year, mills operate at an average
capacity rate of 80.5 percent. That compares with a 79.4 percent rate averaged
in the first half of last year.
In the most recent week, mill output was highest in the AISI
Southern region, with 737,000 tons of output. Next highest was the Great Lakes
region with 597,000 tons, followed by 204,000 tons in the Midwest; 165,000 tons
in the Northeast; and 64,000 tons in the AISI Western region.