The amount of raw steel produced by US mills increased for the fourth consecutive week last week to a new multi-year high, according to figures recently published by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).
US mills produced an estimated 1,843,000 short tons (st) of raw steel in the week ending April 11, up 12,000 st, or 0.7%, from the previous week (Figure 1). Production has strengthened 8% since the start of the year and is now at the highest weekly volume recorded in almost four and a half years.
Last week’s production was 3.2% above the year-to-date (YTD) weekly average of 1,785,000 st, and 9.4% higher than the same week one year prior. YTD production now stands at 25,871,000 st, up 5.5% from the same period last year.
The mill capability utilization rate increased to 79.8% last week, the highest it has been since September 2024. Compare this to the week prior (79.1%) and the same week last year (75.0%). Capability utilization has averaged 77.5% YTD.
Raw production decreased week over week (w/w) in three of the five regions defined by AISI:
- Northeast – 125,000 st (down 8,000 st)
- Great Lakes – 515,000 st (down 2,000 st)
- Midwest – 311,000 st (up 25,000 st)
- South – 830,000 st (up 4,000 st)
- West – 62,000 st (down 7,000 st)
Editor’s note: The raw steel production tonnage provided in this report is estimated and should be used primarily to assess production trends. The graphic included in this report shows unadjusted weekly data. The monthly AISI “AIS 7” report is available by subscription and provides a more detailed summary of domestic steel production.