Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) data Tuesday showed that US service centers shipped just less than 3.1 million tons of steel products in November 2012. This represents a decrease of 6.4 percent from November 2011. For 2012, year-to-date steel shipments were slightly over 38.7 million tons, an increase of 2.5 percent from the same period in 2011. Steel product inventories were nearly 8.2 million tons at the end of November 2012, an increase of 0.9 percent over November a year ago and a decrease of 3.3 percent from last month. At the current shipping rate, this represents 2.6 months of supply in inventory, an increase of 7.8 percent from a year ago.
Canadian service centers shipped 495,100 tons of steel products in November 2012. This represents a decrease of 7.4 percent from November 2011. For 2012, year-to-date steel shipments were approximately 5.8 million tons, a decrease of 1.6 percent from the same period in 2011. Steel product inventories were 1.7 million tons at the end of November 2012, an increase of 24.1 percent from November a year ago and an increase of 1.1 percent from last month. At the current shipping rate, this represents 3.4 months of supply in inventory, an increase of 34 percent from a year ago.