US steel mills started the year operating at 71% of their capability and with 4.8% more raw steel output than the first week of 2016, American Iron and Steel Institute data showed Monday.
In the week ended Saturday, US mills produced 1.684 million st, up 5.8% from the prior week's output of 1.592 million st. The industry's capability utilization bounced up to 71% last week from 67.1% the week before.
Last week's production was 4.8% higher than the same week last year, when mills operated at 68.7% of their capability.
Southern mills ramped up production 11.6% week on week to 578,000 st last week, up from 518,000 st. Western mills also boosted production 11.9% to 66,000 st from 59,000 st.
Northeast mills produced 214,000 st of steel last week, up 4.4% week on week from 205,000 st. Great Lakes mills increased steel output 2.3% to 662,000 st last week, up from 647,000 st. Midwest mills produced 164,000 st last week, up 0.6%, or 1,000 st, from the week before.
The 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.
