Steel production has plunged by 16.9% for the year, while steel capacity utilization is down 26 percentage points as compared to the same time last year, largely as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Great Lakes steel production rose by 5,000 tons last week after more auto plants came back online, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Steel mills in the Great Lakes region, clustered mainly in Northwest Indiana, made 411,000 tons of metal, up from 403,000 tons the previous week.

Overall, domestic steel mills in the United States made 1.196 million tons of steel last week, down 0.9% from 1.2 million tons the previous week and down 36% as compared to 1.866 million tons the same time a year prior.

Steel demand started plummeting in mid-March when automakers like Ford, General Motors and Honda, some of the largest consumers of North American steel, temporarily ceased production to limit the spread of COVID-19, forcing Northwest Indiana steel mills to indefinitely idle blast furnaces. But auto plants across the country have been coming back online in a boost to the struggling steel industry.

So far this year, domestic steel mills in the United States have made 35.49 million tons of steel, a 16.9% decrease compared to the 42.72 million tons made during the same period in 2019. 

U.S. steel mills have run at a capacity utilization rate of 68.6 through June 6, down from 81.4% at the same point in 2019, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Steel capacity utilization nationwide was 53.3% last week, which was down from 53.8% the previous week but down from 80.8% at the same time a year ago.

Steel production in the southern region, a wide geographic swath that encompasses many mini-mills and rivals the Great Lakes region in output, was 500,000 tons in the week that ended Saturday, down from 524,000 tons the week before. Volume in the rest of the Midwest dropped to 117,000 tons last week, down from 121,000 tons the week prior.