American Steel Production Declines in ‘05

Steel production in the U.S. closed out 2005 down by more than 6 million tons compared to 2004 output, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), Washington.

The AISI computes production in the U.S. in 2005 as having finished at 103.5 million tons, with mills averaging a capability utilization rate of 86.4 percent.

The production figure is down 5.8 percent from the 109.9 million tons produced in 2004, when the capability utilization rate was 94.6 percent.

In the final week of the year, the capability utilization rate was 87.5 percent, slightly ahead of the annual average.

Sharply contrasting the drop in steel production in the U.S. has been the continued boom in China. According to the International Iron and Steel Institute, Brussels, total crude steel production in China was 317.7 million metric tons for the first eleven months of 2005, an increase of more than 25 percent over the same period in 2004.

China is on pace to produce as much as 345 million metric tons of steel, further increasing its lead as the world’s largest steelmaking nation.