Great Lakes steel production falls by 29,000 tons | Northwest Indiana Business Headlines
Great Lakes steel production plunged by 29,000 tons last week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Steel mills fell under 80% capacity, a key threshold they operated at for most of last year, following the latest wave of industry consolidation, imposition of tariffs of 25%, strong demand and generally favorable market conditions.
Locally, steel mills in the Great Lakes region, clustered mainly along the south shore of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana, made 597,000 tons of metal in the week that ended March 12, down from 608,000 tons the previous week.
Overall, domestic steel mills in the United States made 1.737 million tons of steel last week, down 1.4% from 1.755 million tons the previous week and down 1.8% compared to 1.768 million tons the same time a year prior.
Steel production so far in 2022 totals 17.757 million tons, a 0.4% increase over 17.681 million tons through the same period last year.
U.S. steel mills have run at a capacity utilization rate of 80.6% through March 12, up from 77.1% at the same point in 2021, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
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Steel capacity utilization, a key metric of the industry’s profitability, was 79.9% last week, up from 78% a year earlier and down from 80% a year prior.
Steel production in the southern region, a wide geographic swath that encompasses many mini-mills and rivals the Great Lakes region in output, totaled 751,000 tons last week, up from 743,000 tons the week before, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Volume in the rest of the Midwest fell to 170,000 tons, down from 176,000 tons the week prior.
