In the week ending on December 23, 2017, domestic raw steel production was 1,718,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 73.7 percent. Production was 1,607,000 net tons in the week ending December 23, 2016 while the capability utilization then was 67.8 percent. The current week production represents a 6.9 percent increase from the same period in the previous year. Production for the week ending December 23, 2017 is up 1.2 percent from the previous week ending December 16, 2017 when production was 1,698,000 net tons and the rate of capability utilization was 72.8 percent.

Adjusted year-to-date production through December 23, 2017 was 88,469,000 net tons, at a capability utilization rate of 74.4 percent. That is up 4.4 percent from the 84,772,000 net tons during the same period last year, when the capability utilization rate was 70.5 percent.

Broken down by districts, here's production for the week ending December 23, 2017 in thousands of net tons: North East: 207; Great Lakes: 639; Midwest: 162; Southern: 640 and Western: 70 for a total of 1718.

The Raw Steel production tonnage provided in this report is estimated. The figures are compiled from weekly production tonnage provided from 50% of the domestic producers combined with monthly production data for the remainder. Therefore, this report should be used primarily to assess production trends. The AISI production report "AIS 7", published monthly and available by subscription, provides a more detailed summary of steel production based on data supplied by companies representing 75% of U.S. production capacity.  

Note: Capability for the Fourth Quarter 2017 is approximately 30.6 million tons compared to 30.7 million tons for the same period last year and 30.6 million tons for the Third Quarter of 2017.