MSCI: Flat Rolled Inventories at 2.1 Months of Supply

Service center shipments of carbon plate increased in March, while shipments of flat roll and tubular products declined, compared with the same month last year, according to the Metals Service Center Institute’s March Metals Activity Report. Overall, service center shipments saw an improvement in March from the prior month.

U.S. service centers shipped 3.596 million tons of steel products in March, a decrease of 1.7 percent from March 2017, but an increase of 9.3 percent from February. U.S. service center inventories at the end of March totaled 7.783 million tons or 2.2 months on hand. That’s a 7.9 percent increase from the 7.214 million tons in inventory, and up from 2.0 months on hand, in March last year. Tons shipped per day in March totaled 163,400, down from 164,400 in February and 159,000 in March 2017.