The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported Thursday that service center shipments continued to grow for both the US and Canada during January. Similarly, steel inventories for both the US and Canada grew in the month of January.
In the US, service centers shipped 3.7 million net tons (nt) of steel products during the month of January--a 9 percent increase from January 2011. Steel product inventories were 8.8 million nt at the end of January, marking a 9.3 percent increase over January 2011. At the current shipping rate, this represents 2.4 months of supply in inventory.
Meanwhile, Canada is experiencing significant growth with their service centers shipping 560,800 nt of steel in January--a 2.9 percent increase from January 2011. Steel product inventories were 1.7 million nt in January, marking an increase of 13.6 percent from December a year ago. At the current shipping rate, this represents 3 months of supply in inventory.