US steel production for the week ending December 10th totaled 1.674 million tons (Mt) as US mills operated at 70.6% for the week, the first time over 70 percent in 14 weeks. Steel production peaked in June and has declined steadily over the last four months, but is currently ramping up at a time of year when production historically tapers down, (Figure 12).

[caption id="attachment_788" align="alignleft" width="500"] Figure 12[/caption]

Figure 13 shows a map of the US broken into steel-making regions. The Great Lakes and Southern zone are the largest producing regions by far and both have “turned green” m/m. The YTD production in the Great Lakes was 32.237 million tons through November, up 4.1% YTD y/y. The Southern region produced 28.725 million tons through November, up 0.5% YTD y/y. The three other areas all recorded YTD y/y declines in production.