Recently it was announced that steel manufactured in the Great Lakes region increased by nearly 2.9% over the previous week’s production, rising to 655,000 tons for the week ending February 17. The majority of Great Lakes steel is produced in the area of Lake Michigan’s southern shore, in the Northwest Indiana counties of Porter and Lake.

During the week beginning February 12th it was reported that 1.751 million tons of metal were produced by domestic steel mills, a decrease of approximately 0.8% compared to the prior week. Thus far in 2018 steel mills in the U.S. have been a bit down in terms of capacity utilization rate which was 75.2% at this time last year and this year so far stands at 73.6%.

According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, the amount of steel used in the week ending February 17 was down a bit at 75.1% compared to the 75.9% used during the same period last year, however up just a tad from the 74.5% used in the previous week ending February 10. The institute also claims that U.S. national steel output is down 1.9% thus far in 2018, falling by 14,000 tons in the week ending February 17. Approximately 90% utilization of steelmaking capacity is thought to be healthy financially for the steel industry according to some analysts.

Overall Midwest steel production fell 5,000 tons for the week ending February 17th, while the Southern district’s production increased approximately 13,000 tons during the same week over the previous week.

AISI is one of the oldest trade associations in the U.S. and is comprised of North American steel producers, members and partners who work to further the association’s mission to influence public policy and also help shape public opinion and educate in support of a sustainable and solid North American and U.S. steel industry.

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