US steel mills shipped 8.5 million net tons (nt) of steel products in March 2012, according to a report released Wednesday from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). March shipments represented a 1.3 percent increase from the 8.4 million nt shipped in February and a 6.3 percent increase from the 8.0 million nt shipped in March 2011. Shipments through March 2012 year-to-date are 25.42 million nt, a 13 percent increase over 2011 shipments for the first three months; shipments through March 2012 would annualize at 102 million nt.
A month-to-month comparison of shipments shows the following changes: cold rolled sheet and strip was up 2 percent; hot rolled sheet shipments were down 3 percent; and hot dipped galvanized sheets and strip fell 4 percent.