Service Centers
May 14, 2015
Service Center Flat Rolled Shipments Down 9.2% YOY
Written by John Packard
According to the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI), U.S. steel service centers shipped 3,465,900 tons of carbon steel (all products) at an average of 157,500 tons per day during the month of April 2015. Total carbon shipments were down 5.6 percent over the previous month and 9.0 percent lower than one year ago. The daily shipment rate, which is what we tend to focus in on, was much lower than the 181,300 tons per day seen last year. April 2015 did have one more shipping day (22) than the same month last year, but that still doesn’t make up for the decline.
Total steel inventories ended the month at 9,483,800 tons, down 74,500 tons or 0.8 percent from March. April inventories are up 10.1 percent over levels one year ago.
