Steel Mills
January 19, 2017
December Distributor Shipments Lower While Inventories Grow
Written by John Packard
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released shipment and inventories data for the month of December as well as the full calendar year 2016. Total steel products, carbon flat rolled, steel plate and pipe and tube saw shipments drop and inventories rise during the month of December compared to the prior year.
The U.S. steel distributors shipped 2,585,100 tons of steel (all products) during the month of December 2016. This is 6.9 percent lower than year ago levels and the 123,100 tons per day shipping rate was the lowest seen during calendar year 2016 (and 2015 for that matter).
