US steel production continues to fall

In the United States, crude steel production fell 12 percent in the last week alone to 1,621,000 tonnes, and capacity utilization was 68.6 percent, according to the latest data released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). At the same time, a weekly drop in US steel production has been observed since the end of March, along with a decrease in capacity utilization.

Experts believe that steel produced in the United States does not withstand price competition with imported products. Estimates show that nearly one third of the steel traded in the US comes from other countries. Many of these countries do not adhere to strict safety and environmental regulations. US Congressmen intend to act harshly against countries that do not support international standards and dump their products on the US market, in violation of international trade rules.

According to AISI, in the same period in 2014, production reached 1,841 thousand tons per week, while capacity utilization was then at the level of 76.6 percent. Although production for the week ending April 11, 2015 was 1.3 percent higher compared to the previous week ending April 4, 2015, when production was 1.6 million tonnes and capacity utilization was 67.7 percent.

At the same time, the total output of crude steel during the week ended April 4, decreased by 1.7 percent compared with the previous week ended March 28, when production amounted to 1,628 thousand tons with 68.9 percent capacity utilization. In addition, the weekly output fell sharply by 13.7 percent compared to the production of 1,853 thousand tons in the same week last year, when the capacity was at 77.1 percent.