MSCI: October Shipments Top Expectations

Service center shipments in October exceeded expectations, led by long products and plate, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of Metals Service Center Institute data.

Daily shipments in October were 1.9 percent higher than in September. On average since 2009, October has decreased by 1.9 percent, therefore these latest numbers were better than the historical norm for this time of year. Carbon steel shipments were 144,900 tons per day in October and days on hand on the 31st were 49.1, which was down from 50.6 at the end of September, 50.4 at the end of August and 50.3 at the end of July. 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.