Feb. 20, 2013
Service Center Shipments Down in January
Service center shipments of steel and aluminum were down in January in both the United States and Canada, according to the first Metals Activity Report of 2013 from the Metals Service Center Institute, Rolling Meadows, Ill.
U.S. service centers shipped 3.6 million tons of steel products in January, a 2.1 percent decrease from the same month last year. Steel product inventories totaled 8.7 million tons at the end of January, a decrease of 0.4 percent from January a year ago, but an increase of 2.2 percent from last month. At January shipping rates, that represented 2.4 months of supply, an increase of 1.8 percent from a year ago.
U.S. distributors shipped 126,100 tons of aluminum products in January, down 5.6 percent from the same month in 2012. Inventories of aluminum products totaled 366,400 tons at the end of January, a decrease of 2.1 percent from a year earlier, but an increase of 0.2 percent from the previous month. At January shipping rates, that represented 2.9 months of supply in inventory, an increase of 3.7 percent from a year ago.
Canadian service centers shipped 522,300 tons of steel products in January, a decrease of 6.9 percent from the same month last year. Inventories totaled nearly 1.8 million tons at the end of the month, an increase of 5.7 percent from January a year ago, but a decrease of 3.2 percent from the previous month. At January shipping rates, that represented 3.4 months of supply, an increase of 13.5 percent from a year ago.
Canadian distributors shipped 13,600 tons of aluminum products in January, a decrease of 3.0 percent from the same month last year. Inventories of aluminum products totaled 40,700 tons at the end of January, an increase of 19.2 percent from the same month in 2012, and an increase of 5.0 percent from the previous month. At January shipping rates, that represented 3.0 months of supply, an increase of 22.9 percent from a year ago.