This Morning in Metals: U.S. steel capacity utilization rate jumps again to 56.6%

Steel capacity utilization reaches 56.6%

U.S. steel mills churned out steel at a capacity utilization rate of 56.6% during the week ending July 4, up from 55.4% the previous week but down from the 79.7% posted during the same week in 2019, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported.
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U.S. steel production totaled 1.27 million net tons last week, marking a 2.3% increase from the previous week but a 31.6% year-over-year decline.

Q2 copper sales to beat earlier estimate, Freeport-McMoRan says

In an update released Monday, miner Freeport-McMoRan said it expects Q2 copper sales to exceed an earlier April estimate of 690 million pounds by 8%.
The miner projected its Q2 gold sales will be up 10% compared with the April estimate.

Airbus-Boeing: E.U. says it will act ‘decisively’

Continuing the long-running tariff fight between the U.S. and the E.U. over subsidies for their respective plane manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, the E.U. has said it will act “decisively” should the U.S. opt to impose new tariffs on E.U. goods, the BBC reported.
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“I want to reassure people that we are ready to act decisively and strongly on the European Union side if we don’t get the type of outcome that we expect from the United States in relationship to finalising this 15-year-old dispute,” E.U. Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan told the European Parliament’s trade committee on Monday, according to the BBC.