Steel production in Great Lakes states rises 8,000 tons

Raw steel production in the country's Great Lakes region was 654,000 tons in the week that ended Saturday, according to estimates from the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Production was up 8,000 tons from 646,000 tons in the prior week.

Raw steel from Indiana and the Chicago area represents the majority of production in the Great Lakes.

Production in the Southern District was estimated at 661,000 tons during the period that ended Saturday, down from 665,000 tons produced a week earlier.

Domestic mills produced more than 1.9 million tons of steel last week, up 6.9 percent from the same period in 2011.

U.S. steel mills operated 77.2 percent of the available production capacity last week, which is up from a 76.8 percent production rate a week earlier.

An estimated 9.5 million tons of steel has been produced so far in 2012 at domestic steel mills, compared to about 8.9 million tons made at the same time last year.