Great Lakes steel production has risen by 4.3 percent in 2018

2018-09-20

Sep. 19, 2018 - Great Lakes steel production rose to 689,000 tons last week, a slight increase of 4,000 tons from the previous week.

Steel mills in the Great Lakes region made 685,000 tons of metal the previous week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Most of the steel made in the Great Lakes region is produced around the southern shore of Lake Michigan in Lake and Porter counties in Northwest Indiana.

Overall, domestic steel mills made 1.862 million tons of metal last week, down from the 1.879 million tons made the previous week.

U.S. steel mills have run at a capacity utilization rate of 77.4 percent so far this year, up from 74.4 percent at the same point in 2017, according to the AISI.

Domestic steelmakers used about 79.4 percent of their steelmaking capacity in the week that ended Sept. 15, up from 73.4 percent at the same time a year ago but down from 80.2 percent a week prior, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Some analysts say steel-making capacity utilization of about 90 percent is considered financially healthy for the industry, at least for the larger integrated mills like those around Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana, because of their high fixed operating costs.

Nationally, as 25 percent Section 232 tariffs make imports more expensive, U.S. steel output is up by 4.3 percent so far this year, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute, a 0.2 percent increase as compared to the past week and the third straight week of increase.