According to data released by the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) this week, service center inventories of all steel product groups rose month-on-month in April.
Flat-rolled month-on-hand inventories had the biggest monthly increase in April, rising from 1.9-months-on-hand in March to 2.3 months-on-hand last month. Daily shipments were 100,400 net tons (nt) in April; while down from daily shipments of 106,100 nt in March, April shipments were still up significantly from daily shipments of 86,000 nt in April of last year.
Inventories and shipments for other product groups showed similar increases. Plate inventories rose to 2.6-months-on-hand in April from 2.3-months-on-hand in March, as daily shipments fell from 17,300 nt in March to 16,500 nt in April. Daily pipe and tubing shipments fell as well in April, from 11,300 nt in March to 11,000 nt in April. April Inventories also rose from 2.5-months-on-hand in March 2.7-months-on-hand.
As for bar and structural steel shipments, while daily structural steel shipments jumped from 9,500 nt in March to 10,100 nt in April, bar shipments stayed the same in April at 14,500 nt. Inventories were up for both-structural month-on-hand inventories increased to 2.8 months in April from2.6 months in March, and bar inventories rose by 0.3 months to 2.5-months-on-hand in April.