Steel Mills
January 20, 2015
Service Center Inventories Jump
Written by John Packard
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported steel distributor shipments and inventories on Monday. The MSCI reported U.S. shipments of all steel products totaled 3,135,700 tons during the month of December which was 6.3 percent higher than December 2013. The daily shipment rate was 142,500 tons per day.
Total steel inventories (all products) were reported at 9,902,000 tons as of the end of December. U.S. distributors were holding 18.3 percent more steel at the end of December 2014 than they were holding one year earlier. The number of months on the floor totaled 3.2 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. This is an increase from the 3.0 months being held at the end of November and is well above the 2.8 months supply being held at the end of December 2013.
