The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported Wednesday that US service centers shipped more than 2.5 million tons of steel products in December 2012. This represents a decrease of 14.4 percent from December 2011. For 2012, steel shipments were 41.2 million tons, an increase of 1.3 percent from 2011.
Steel product inventories were 8.5 million tons at the end of December 2012, an increase of 2.4 percent over December a year ago and an increase of 4.6 percent from the previous month. At the current shipping rate, this represents 3.4 months of supply in inventory, an increase of 19.6 percent from a year ago.
Canadian service centers shipped 338,600 tons of steel products in December 2012. This represents a decrease of 19.3 percent from December 2011. For 2012, steel shipments were 6.1 million tons, a decrease of 2.8 percent from 2011.
Steel product inventories were 1.8 million tons at the end of December 2012, an increase of 21.6 percent from December a year ago and an increase of 9.7 percent from last month. At the current shipping rate, this represents 5.4 months of supply in inventory, an increase of 50.7 percent from a year ago.
