Steel output in the US shows year-on-year bump

Although steel production has trended about 1.5 percent lower throughout this year compared with last year, the most recently completed week saw an encouraging 3 percent year-on-year rise compared with a year ago.

Despite an automotive sector experiencing labor-management discord and a construction sector worried about stalling momentum, the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) says mill output of 1.735 million tons in the week ending Sept. 23 was 3 percent higher compared with the 1.684 million tons made in the comparable week last year.

The most recent week’s total also was up, but by just 0.1 percent, from the previous week, ending Sept. 16.

The mill capability utilization (capacity) rate in the United States right now is 76.3 percent, down slightly from this time last year when the rate stood at 76.4 percent.

Year to date, mills in the U.S. have produced slightly more than 65 million tons of steel, at an average capacity rate of 76 percent. That is down 1.5 percent from the nearly 66 million tons made during the same period last year, when the capacity rate averaged 79.4 percent.

The 1.5 percent year-on-year decrease in the U.S. compares favorably with some other G7 or Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development nations, according to figures for the first eight months of the year released by Brussels-based Worldsteel.

Worldsteel, which gathers data from 63 different national steelmaking associations, has German output as falling by 4.2 percent so far this year, while Japan’s production has dropped by 3.8 percent and South Korea’s by 2.3 percent.

Of interest to U.S. ferrous scrap processors and traders, Turkey’s output thus far is off by a noticeable 12.1 percent and Brazil’s production has fallen by more than 8 percent. Providing better news, scrap importer India in the first eight months of this year produced 10.5 percent more steel than it did from January through August 2022.