US raw steel production fell to 1.715 million st last week, down 1.4% from the previous week, but up 9% from the same week last year, according to data released Monday by the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Last week's US mill capability utilization rate declined to 73.6%, from 74.6% the prior week, but up from 68.7% the same week a year ago.
Adjusted year-to-date production through November 4 was 76.5 million st at a capability utilization rate of 74.6%, up 3.9% from 73.6 million st in the same period last year, when capability utilization was 71.1%.
Production volumes fell in every region.
The Great Lakes and Southern regions declined to 642,000 st and 653,000 st, respectively. That's a drop of 11,000 st week on week in the Great Lakes and a decline of 3,000 st in the Southern region.
Production fell 4,000 st in the Northeast, to 187,000 st.
Production volumes in the Midwest and Western regions were both down 3,000 st last week. The Midwest produced 159,000 st of raw steel and the Western region fell to 74,000 st.
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.
