Steel Mills
February 16, 2017
Steel Distributors Flat Rolled Inventories Fall as Shipments Improve
Written by John Packard
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released shipment and inventories data for the steel service centers located in the United States. They reported higher shipment rates coupled with lower flat rolled inventories (higher overall for all products) which is very supportive for prices to tighten over the next 30 days.
U.S. steel service centers (all products) shipped a total of 3,340,400 tons during the month of January. This total for shipments is 9.4 percent above year ago levels. The 9.4 percent increase year-over-year is the largest increase we have seen in a long time. During 2016 there were only two months of positive growth YOY, November at 3.3 percent and August at 2.1 percent. The daily average shipment rate was 159,100 tons per day.
