Steel Shipments by US Mills Surged 13% in October

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest monthly trade statistics published by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) indicates that steel shipments by the US mills surged higher by nearly 13% during the month of October this year, upon comparison with the shipments during October 2016. Also, the US steel shipments registered modest 2% jump when matched with the previous month.

The October shipments by US steel mills totaled 7,710,777 net tons. The shipments were up significantly by 12.8% when matched with the total shipments of 6,832,801 net tons during October last year. Meantime, shipments were up modestly by 2% over the previous month. The shipments had totaled 7,559,625 net tons in September this year. Shipments of Hot Dipped Galvanized Sheets and Strips have increased sharply by 6% during the month. When matched with the prior month, shipments of hot rolled sheets were down by nearly 5%. Meantime, cold rolled sheets registered 2% decline in shipment volume upon comparison with the previous month.

The steel shipments during the initial ten months of 2017 totaled 76,138,524 net tons. The cumulative steel shipments during the initial ten-month period in 2017 were up by 4.8% when matched with the shipments during the corresponding period in 2016. The shipments had totaled 72,635,819 net tons during January to October in 2016.

Meantime, the weekly statistics released by the steel body suggests that raw steel production by the country edged higher marginally by 1% during the week ending December 2^nd, 2017.

The domestic raw steel output during the week ending December 2^nd totaled 1,720,000 net tons. The AISI data indicates that the US raw steel production has increased by 2.1% during the week. This is in comparison with the production during the week prior to this (ie., the week ending November 25^th). The previous week production had totaled 1,703,000 net tons. Also, the production surged higher by 7.8% when matched with same period the previous year, when production had totaled only 1,595,000 net tons.

During the week ended December 2^nd, the US steel mills operated at a capacity utilization rate of 73.8%. The capacity utilization rate has increased marginally when compared with 73.0% during the previous week (ie., the week ending November 25^th). Meantime, capacity utilization rate stood significantly higher when compared with the rate of 67.3% during corresponding week the previous year.

The year-to-date crude steel output through December 2, 2017 totaled 83,381,000 net tons. The cumulative production has increased marginally by 4.3% when compared with the production of 79,951,000 net tons during the similar ten-month period in 2016. The capacity utilization rate averaged at 74.5% during the year-to-date period.