Update on Manufacturing Indicators in December

Based on Steel Market Update’s analysis of 10 indicators, there is a faint glow in the manufacturing environment.

This report summarizes 10 data streams that describe the state of U.S. manufacturing in general and the steel industry in particular. We have reported on most of these separately in our Steel Market Update publications, and therefore will be brief in this summary. We don’t expect these data sources to all point in the same direction. Our intent in summarizing them in one document is to provide a consensus of the state of this critical steel consuming sector. In data released in December, the year-over-year growth rate of nine of the 10 data streams was negative on a 3MMA (three-month moving average) basis and one was positive. The faint glow is that four of the 10 declined more slowly in the data released in December. Figure 1 is a summary of data received in December and shows the year-over-year percentage change on a 3MMA basis. The summary sheet shows directional arrows comparing December data releases to November’s data. Based on American Iron and Steel Institute estimates of steel mill shipments by market classification, almost 50 percent of the steel consumed in the U.S. is manufacturing-oriented. This breaks down to about 27 percent in ground transportation, 9 percent in machinery and equipment, 5 percent in appliances, 4 percent in defense and about 4 percent in containers.