US steel production dropped significantly

Weekly statistics released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) signify a marked decline in crude steel production in the very last week ending November 7, 2020.

The weekly production of rough steel was 1.573 million tonnes at a capacity utilization rate of 71.1%. This compares to a weekly production of 1.823 million tonnes ending November 7, 2019 at a functional utilization rate of 78.8%. Compared to the same period last year, production decreased significantly, by 13.7%. On the other hand, production increased slightly from the previous week - by 1.0%. Steel production totaled only 1,557,000 net tonnes at a 70.4% functional utilization rate for the week ended October 31, 2020, according to the AISI report.

The Southern Region's production exceeded 639,000 tonnes, followed by the Great Lakes, which produced 544,000 net tonnes. Production in the Midwest and Northeast was 162,000 net tonnes and 155,000 net tonnes, respectively. Meanwhile, the Western region accounted for 73 thousand tons of steel.

Adjusted cumulative smelting from the beginning of the year to the date until November 7, 2020 was 67.379 million net tonnes. The year of modern production prior to November 7th, 2019 totaled 82.977 million tonnes. In addition, the capacity utilization rate fell from 80.0% a year earlier to 66.8% this year.