Posted on 23 Jan 2020
The U.S. steel sector reached a capacity utilization rate of 82.3% for the year through Jan. 18, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).
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Production for the year to date reached 4.94 million tons, up 2.6% from production during the same period last year (when capacity utilization rate reached 80.4%).
Meanwhile, for the week ending Jan. 18, 2020, domestic raw steel production was 1.93 million net tons at a capacity utilization rate of 82.7%. The weekly production total marked a 3.0% increase from the week ending Jan. 18, 2019, when production reached 1.87 million tons at a capacity utilization rate of 80.4%.
In addition, production for the week ending Jan. 18, 2020, was up 0.3% from the previous week, when it was 1.92 million net tons at a rate of 82.5%.
By region, production for the week ending Jan. 18, 2020 broke down as such:
• Northeast: 216,000 net tons
• Great Lakes: 686,000 net tons
• Midwest: 208,000 net tons
• Southern: 730,000 net tons
• Western: 88,000 net tons
Steel prices make gains
From the price side, U.S. steel prices have continued to trend upward after seemingly hitting a bottom from mid-October to mid-November.
The U.S. CRC price is up 2.39% over the past 30 days, reaching $772/st as of Jan 20.
Meanwhile, U.S. HDG is up 1.92% over the same period to $850/st.
U.S. HRC is up 3.21% to $578/st.
Source:Metal Miner
