Raw steel production in the country's Great Lakes region was 600,000 tons in the week that ended Saturday, according to estimates from the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Production was down 1,000 tons from the week prior. Raw steel from Indiana and the Chicago area typically represents the majority of production in the Great Lakes region. The AISI reported that last week was the lowest weekly figure for capacity utilization this year and is reflective of the general slowdown in the economy and in manufacturing.
In the week that ended Oct. 6, the Great Lakes region produced 601,000 tons of steel.
Production in the Southern District was estimated at 596,000 tons during the period that ended Oct. 13, down from about 619,000 tons a week earlier.
Domestic mills produced more than 1.7 million tons of steel last week, down 2.5 percent from the same period in 2011.
U.S. steel mills operated 70.3 percent of the available production capacity last week, which is down from a 71.1 percent production rate a week earlier.
An estimated 77.7 million tons of steel has been produced so far in 2012 at domestic steel mills, compared to about 74.7 million tons made through the comparable 2011 period.
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