Shipments of U.S. and Canadian steel and aluminum products saw modest year-over-year gains in July, according to Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based Metals Service Center Institute’s latest Metals Activity Report.
U.S. service centers shipped 3 million tons of steel products in July, an increase of 1.4 percent from the same month last year, but a decrease of 13.5 percent from the month prior. Year-to-date shipments of 23.1 million tons were up 3.3 percent from 2016.
Service center steel inventories totaled 7.5 million tons at the end of July, a decrease of 3.9 percent from 2016, but an increase of 3.9 percent from June. At July shipping rates, that represented 2.5 months of supply, down from 2.7 months in 2016.
U.S. service centers shipped 123,500 tons of aluminum products during the month, an increase of 4.8 percent from the same month in 2016, but a decrease of 16.2 percent from June. Full-year shipments increased 6.8 percent to 956,300 tons.
U.S. service center inventories of aluminum products totaled 400,600 tons in July, an increase of 1.3 percent from last year and 2.2 percent from the previous month. At July shipping rates, that represented 3.2 months of supply, down from 3.4 months during the year-ago period.
Canadian service centers shipped 346,500 tons of steel products during the month, an increase of 8.7 percent from the same month in 2016, but down 11.7 percent from June. For the year to date, shipments increased 3.1 percent to 2.7 million tons.
Service center steel inventories in Canada totaled 1.2 million tons at the end of the month, an increase of 6.6 percent from July 2016 and 3.1 percent from the month prior. At July shipping rates, that represented 3.4 months of supply, down from 3.5 months from the same time last year.
Canadian service centers shipped 9,600 tons of aluminum products in July, an increase of 9.1 percent from the same month in 2016, but a decrease of 8.6 percent from the previous month. Year-to-date aluminum shipments of 72,300 tons were up 0.1 percent from 2016.
Canadian inventories of aluminum products totaled 30,600 tons at the end of July, a decrease of 2.1 percent from a year ago, but up 0.7 percent from June. At July shipping rates, that represented 3.2 months of supply, down from 3.5 months for the same month of 2016.