he American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that for the month of August 2012, U.S. steel mills shipped 8,377,162 net tons, a 5.9 percent increase from the 7,910,486 net tons shipped in the previous month, July 2012, and a 0.9 percent increase from the 8,304,638 net tons shipped in August 2011. Shipments year-to-date in 2012 are 66,404,752, an 9.8 percent increase vs. 2011 shipments of 60,493,945 for eight months. 2012 shipments for August would annualize at 98 million tons.
Shipments in August were the highest of the three most recent shipment reports and just 0.7% below the 8,436,831 tons shipped in May. However, September and October figures indicate production has declined since August. Raw Steel Capacity Utilization in September was 72.8 percent, down 3.5 percent from August. Weekly Raw Steel Production Utilization for the weeks of October 7 and 13, respectively, were 71.1 and 70.3 percent, a 10 percent drop from the peak 2012 monthly utilization of 80.9 in April.
A comparison of August shipments to the previous month of July shows the following changes: hot dipped galvanized sheets and strip, up 5 percent, hot rolled sheet, up 5 percent and cold rolled sheet, down 1 percent.