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Great Lakes steel production rose by 5,000 tons last week, while U.S. steel mills remained close to 80% of capacity, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
But national steel output is up more than 44% year over year after steel mills sunk to half capacity early on in the coronavirus pandemic around this time in 2020.
Steel mills in the Great Lakes region, clustered mainly along the South Shore of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana, made 616,000 tons of metal in the week that ended May 1, up from 611,000 tons the previous week.
Overall, domestic steel mills in the United States made 1.788 million tons of steel last week, up 0.4% from 1.781 million tons the previous week, and up 44.4% as compared to 1.238 million tons the same time a year prior, when the onset of the coronavirus pandemic shut down auto plants and other factories, gutting the demand for steel.
It was a level of underutilization possibly not seen at local steel mills since the Great Depression.
Now with vaccines being rolled out widely and infection and death rates down, steel production is up more than 43% year over year.
Great Lakes steel production rose by 8,000 tons last week, while U.S. steel mills remained close to 80% of capacity, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Steel mills in the Great Lakes region, clustered mainly along the South Shore of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana, made 611,000 tons of metal in the week that ended April 24, up 1.32% from 603,000 tons the previous week.
What a difference a year makes.
Steel production in the United States had fallen to about half capacity at this time a year ago, near the onset of the coronavirus pandemic when auto factories across the country were being shut down in response to viral outbreaks. Now with vaccines being rolled out widely, steel production has returned to a more normal range.
Great Lakes steel production fell by 20,000 tons last week, while U.S. steel mills remained close to 80% of capacity, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Steel mills in the Great Lakes region, clustered mainly along the South Shore of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana, made 603,000 tons of metal in the week that ended April 17, down 3.21% from 623,000 tons the previous week.