Raw steel production in the country's Great Lakes region was 593,000 tons in the week that ended Saturday, according to estimates from the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Production was down 19,000 tons from the week prior. Raw steel from Indiana and the Chicago area typically represents the majority of production in the Great Lakes region.
Production in the Southern District was estimated at 594,000 tons during the period that ended Oct. 27, down from about 615,000 tons a week earlier.
Domestic mills produced nearly 1.7 million tons of steel last week, down 5.5 percent from the same period in 2011.
U.S. steel mills operated 67.9 percent of the available production capacity last week, which is down from a 69.7 percent production rate a week earlier.
Capacity utilization reported for the previous week was the lowest in 2012.
An estimated 81.1 million tons of steel has been produced so far in 2012 at domestic steel mills, compared to about 78.2 million tons made through the comparable 2011 period.
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