Steel Production up, but so are Imports

July closed with steel mills in the U.S. churning out product at 91.5 percent of mill capacity, according to figures from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), Washington.

More than two million net tons of steel was produced by American mills the week ending July 27, with mills producing at 91.5 percent of their capacity. Production was up from the week before, when 1.9 million tons were produced at an 87.1 percent rate. The figures are also vastly improved from those of a year ago, when mills produced just 1.8 million tons at a 77.7 utilization rate. (The lower rate is partly due to a greater number of now idled mills operating at that time.)

The strong July figures were accomplished despite increasing amounts of imported steel working their way back into the U.S. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau for June indicates that both finished and semi-finished steel imports increased by more than 30 percent in June over May.

For the first half of 2002, finished steel imports are down 7.7 percent while imports of semi-finished steel are actually up a staggering 47 percent over last year’s figure, despite the Section 201 tariff remedies imposed by the Bush Administration.

“The June and half-year import data show conclusively that the President's 201 tariff remedy has not cut off the flow of steel imports to the U.S. market,” says Andrew G. Sharkey III, president and CEO of the AISI.