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For the year as of July 20, the U.S. steel sector notched a capacity utilization rate of 81.1%, up from 77.0% for the same period in 2018, according to the U.S. steel production report released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

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Year-to-date production reached 54.2 million tons, up 5.0% from the 51.6 million tons produced during the same period in 2018.

Meanwhile, for the week ending July 20, U.S. steel production reached 1.9 million tons at a capacity utilization rate of 80.4%. The weekly production total marked a 1.8% from production during the same week in 2018, when production hit 1.8 million tons at a capacity utilization rate of 78.4%.

Production for the week ending July 20, 2019, was up 0.3% from the previous week, when the capacity utilization rate reached 80.2%, according to AISI.

By region, production for the week ending July 20, 2019, reached:

• Northeast: 205,000 tons
• Great Lakes: 685,000 tons
• Midwest: 204,000 tons
• Southern: 697,000 tons
• Western: 81,000 tons

According to another AISI report released late last month, U.S. imports of steel for the first five months of the year reached 13.6 million tons, down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Finished steel imports for the same period reached 10.0 million tons, marking an 18.1% decrease from the same period in 2018.

Finished steel import market share came in at an estimated 19% in May, according to AISI, and 21% for the January-May 2019 period.

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In other recent steel news, the U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced it found evidence of dumping and countervailable subsidies with respect to imports of steel racks from China.

According to the Department of Commerce, imports of the steel racks from China were valued at $200 million in 2017. From 2016 to 2017, imports of the steel racks from China increased by 15.7%

The Department of Commerce calculate dumping rates ranging from 18.06% to 144.50% and countervailable subsidies ranging from 1.50% to 102.23%.

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This morning in metals news, China is poised to to impose anti-dumping duties on a number of countries, Nucor says it is happy with the results of the Trump administration’s tariffs and Brazilian miner Vale’s second-quarter output plunged.

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China to Hit Imports of Stainless Steel with Anti-Dumping Duty

China is set to impose an anti-dumping duty on imports of stainless steel from the E.U., Japan, South Korea and Indonesia, Reuters reported.

According to the report, the duties — covering billets and hot-rolled steel plates — will go into effect July 23.

Nucor ‘Pleased’ with Tariffs

Nucor CEO John Ferriola told CNBC the Trump administration’s tariffs on imported steel have worked.

“The anticipated response was domestic capacity coming on line to replace the lower imported steel,” Ferriola said during a CNBC interview last week. “That’s exactly what happened.”

Vale Output Down in Q2

Brazilian miner Vale reported its second-quarter iron ore output fell 33.8% year over year. Production was down 12.1% compared with Q1 2019, according to the miner.

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A January tailings dam collapse at Vale’s Corrego do Feijao mine in Brumadinho sent shock waves through the iron ore market and led to more than 200 deaths.

In addition, heavy rains in March, April and May also impacted operations.