The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Monday that US raw steel production fell 3.1 percent in the week ending June 29, following increases in the three prior weeks. The biggest declines were in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions--last week, AK Steel announced that due to a mechanical failure, its Middletown, Ohio blast furnace would be taken offline.
Total raw steel production in the United States was 1,822,000 net tons (nt) last week, representing a 3.1 percent drop from the 1,881,000 nt produced the previous week and a 2.1 percent decrease from the 1,862,000 nt produced during the same week a year ago.
The capacity utilization rate of US raw steelmaking facilities was 76.1 percent in the week ending June 29, compared to 78.5 percent in the previous week and 74.8 percent in the same week last year.
