Service Center Flat Rolled Shipments Improve Despite the Weather

The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported today that January 2014 carbon steel shipments were essentially flat (same) as one year ago. However, flat rolled shipments improved compared to one year ago. You can view the MSCI press release on shipments and inventories on their website.

Service centers shipped 3,648,200 tons of steel products during the month of January 2014 which had 22 shipping days the same as last year. The shipment rate was 165,800 tons per day which is almost exactly the same as one year ago when service centers shipped 165,600 tons per day during the month of January. Inventories stood at 8,554,700 tons, up slightly from the 8,367,700 tons reported at the end of December. Months on hand stood at 2.3 months on a non seasonally adjusted basis down from 2.8 months at the end of December and 2.5 months on a seasonally adjusted basis up from 2.3 months the prior month.