Steel Mills
March 17, 2016
U.S. Steel Service Centers Reduce Flat Rolled Inventories
Written by John Packard
U.S. steel service centers shipped a total of 3,179,800 tons of steel products during the month of February 2016. Even with an extra day due to Leap Year total tonnage was down 4.6 percent over year ago levels. The 151,400 tons per day steel shipment rate was down from January’s 152,700 rate and well below the 166,600 tons per day shipped during February 2015.
Total steel inventories (all products) dropped to 7,842,800 tons and inventories are 20.6 percent lower than the 9,875,200 tons held on distributor floors at the end of February 2015. The number of months supply dropped to 2.5 months from January’s 2.6 months. One year ago service centers were holding 3.0 months supply.
