This year, American mills have increased the supply of steel

Steel shipments by American factories grew significantly during October 2018, according to recent statistics published by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). This is compared to the corresponding period last year. Shipments also showed a marked increase over the previous month.

In October this year, shipments to US steel mills amounted to 8.175 million tonnes net. This is up 6.0% compared to shipments of 7.711 million tonnes in the same month last year. Shipments were up 4.6% from the previous month.

Cold-rolled sheet shipments recorded the largest jump from the previous month, up 7%. In addition, shipments of hot-dip galvanized sheets and strips increased by 4%. Hot-rolled sheet shipments remained more or less unchanged from the previous month.

Cumulative shipments of steel by American factories in the first ten months of 2018 increased 4.6% year-on-year to 79.643 million tonnes, according to AISI. For the same ten-month period in 2017, shipments from factories amounted to only 76.139 million tons.

Meanwhile, domestic U.S. steel production saw a notable jump in the week ending December 8, 2018. Weekly steel production increased by almost 12% over the previous year to 1.876 million tonnes. The factories' capacity utilization also increased from 71.9% to 80% over the year.