After inching up for seven consecutive weeks, US raw steel production registered a slight decrease last week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Monday that total raw steel production in the United States for the week ended June 20 amounted to approximately 1,133,000 net tons (nt), which is down 0.5 percent from the reported 1,139,000 nt produced in the week ended June 13, 2009, and ends a seven-week string of incremental increases in production. Compared to the same week of last year, US crude steel output was down 47.4 percent in the week ended June 20, 2009.
Percent capability utilization of US raw steelmaking facilities was 47.5 percent in the week ended June 20, 2009, compared to 47.7 percent in the prior week, and 90.3 percent in the same week of last year.
The AISI reports that year-to-date US raw steel production totaled 25,357,000 nt as of June 20, 2009, which reflects a 51.2 percent reduction in output from the same period of last year. Year-to-date percent capability utilization as of June 20 was reported as 43.3 percent, which is down from the 90.5 percent YTD capability utilization rate for the same period of 2008.