[Ferro-Alloys.Com]The American Iron & Steel Institute reported that for the month of August 2012, US steel mills shipped 8.377 tons, a 5.9% MoM increase from the 7.910 million tons shipped in July 2012 and a 0.9% YoY increase from the 8.304 million tons shipped in August 2011.

Shipments YTD in 2012 are 66.404 million tons, a 9.8% YoY increase vs 2011 shipments of 60.493 million tons for eight months. 2012 shipments for August 2012 would annualize at 98 million tons.

Shipments in August 2012 were the highest of the three most recent shipment reports and just 0.7% below the 8,436,831 tons shipped in May 2012. However, September and October 2012 figures indicate production has declined since August 2012. Raw steel capacity utilization in September 2012 was 72.8%, down by 3.5% from August 2012. Weekly raw steel production utilization for the weeks of October 7th 2012 to October 13th 2012, respectively, were 71.1% and 70.3%, a 10% drop from the peak 2012 monthly utilization of 80.9% in April 2012.

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