According to the latest US Commerce Department data, five of the biggest steel companies in the US reported quarterly net gains. The net combined income of the industry during this period was at $472mn. Nucor reported the highest quarterly profit at $275mn followed by Steel Dynamics at $151mn, Commercial Metal Company at $86mn, Carpenter Technology at $41mn, and AK Steel at $2.8mn.
However production declined during this period with steel production decreasing to 7.4mn mt in the first eight months of 2019, down by 1.1pc from the same time last year according to the department that cited worldsteel’s data.
The report also indicated a decrease of 0.3pc in domestic steel capacity utilization in August 2019 compared to the previous year as well as July 2019. Domestic steel capacity utilization was estimated at 79.1pc in August compared to 79.4pc in July 2019, even though the average US domestic steel utilisation capacity has been trending up in the last couple of years.
The demand for steel excluding semi-finished products decrased 2pc to 8.7mn mt in August from the same time the previous year, even though it increased from 8.1mn mt reported in July 2019.
The production declines in the US followed a global trend. Global steel production decreased by 0.6pc to 155.3mn mt in August, compared to 156.2mn mt the month before even though it grew 3.1pc over the same month the previous year.
Half of the monthly total world production came from China in August. Steel production in the Asian country increased by 2.4pc to 87.3mn mt during the month, leading to a 56pc increase in its share of total monthly world steel production.