The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported Wednesday that service center shipments grew slightly for both the US and Canada during December. Similarly, steel inventories for both the US and Canada grew in the month of December.
In the US, service centers shipped 2.9 million net tons (nt) of steel products during the month of December -- an 8.3 percent increase from December 2010 -- and year-to-date steel shipments totaled 40.7 million nt, indicating a 14.2 percent increase over totals from 2010. Steel product inventories were 8.3 million nt at the end of December 2011, marking a 3.1 percent increase from November and an 8.3 percent increase over December 2010. At the current shipping rate, this represents 2.8 months supply in inventory, an increase of 3.1 percent from a year ago. This increase can be attributed to the flat-rolled service centers which experienced the most substantial month-on-month jump -- from 2.3 months-on-hand in November to 2.8 months-on-hand in December.
Meanwhile, Canada is experiencing significant growth with their service centers shipping 419,500 nt of steel in December - a 10.2 percent increase from December 2010 - and year-to-date steel shipments totaled 6.2 million nt, indicating an 11 percent increase from 2010. Steel product inventories were 1.5 million nt in December 2011, marking an 8.1 percent increase from December 2010 and an increase of 11.9 percent from last month. At the current shipping rate, this represents 3.6 months supply in inventory, a decrease of 1.8% from a year ago.