Service Center Steel Shipments Stay on Track in September

Service centers’ daily steel shipments in September were 0.9 percent higher than in August, matching the average since 2009. Therefore, the latest numbers were exactly on the historical track for this time of year, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of Metals Service Center Institute data (MSCI).

Carbon steel shipments were 144,400 tons per day in September and days on hand on the 30th were 50.6, which was close to the 50.3 at the end of July and 50.4 at the end of August. In this analysis, we began to report days on hand for the first time in August. All previous SMU updates reported months on hand. The problem with MoH is that it is influenced by the number of shipping days, therefore another variable is introduced. In months with a high number of shipping days, monthly shipments are elevated, which reduces the numerical value of inventory divided by shipments. In months with few shipping days, the reverse is the case. This is a big deal because shipping days can be as low as 18 and as high as 23. This variable is eliminated by considering inventory divided by daily shipments.