SMU Data and Models
October 16, 2015
Service Centers Can’t Control Demand (or Themselves) as Apparent Excess Rises
Written by John Packard
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released September shipments and inventories for U.S. distributors. We reported in Thursday evening’s issue that flat rolled steel shipments were weaker than expected while receipts were higher than expected. The combination of the two has driven our Apparent Excess to over 1 million net tons.
The SMU Flat Rolled Service Center Apparent Excess/Deficit model is based on the number of days supply distributors need to have for their inventories to be in balance. Based on our model service centers are carrying 1,038,000 tons more than what is needed to be in balance.
