US raw steel production picked up last week as production from Southern mills rebounded, data published Monday by the American Iron and Steel Institute showed.
For the week ended Saturday, mills produced 1.856 million st of raw steel, up 1.5% from 1.829 million st the week before. Capability utilization edged up to 77.5% from 76.3%.
Last week's output represents a 6.4% increase from the year-ago week, when mills produced 1.744 million st of steel, operating at a 70.1% utilization rate.
Year-to-date steel production is still down 1.8%, totaling 85.04 million st, down from 86.62 million st in the year-ago period. Average capability utilization has been 77.2%, up from 75.5% through the same period of 2012.
Southern steel output ramped up 6.5% week on week to 655,000 st, up from 615,000 st. Western steel production also increased 6.7% on the week to 80,000 st, up from 75,000 st.
Northeast mills manufactured 4.7% less steel, however, falling to 203,000 st from 213,000 st. Mills in the Midwest produced 250,000 st, down 1.2% from 253,000 st. Great Lakes steel mills manufactured 668,000 st last week, down 0.7% from 673,000 st.
AISI determines its weekly raw steel production data based on weekly data from 50% of the domestic industry and estimates the rest using monthly production data.