The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported this week that steel inventories at US service centers continued to decline during the month of April.
Data from MSCI's Metals Activity Report (MAR) show that steel inventories at US service centers declined for the sixth consecutive month, to 14.6 million net tons, the lowest level since May 2006. Nevertheless, this figure is still 4.5 percent higher than the April 2006 inventory level. At the current rate of shipping, steel inventories represent a 3.2-month supply, up slightly from March.
Meanwhile, steel shipments from US service centers in April declined for the eighth consecutive month, totaling 4.5 million tons, 1.5 percent lower than the volume for the same month of the previous year. Shipments for the first four months of 2007 totaled 18.2 million tons, down 5.4 percent from the same period of 2006.
The MAR data show that steel shipments from Canadian service centers also declined in April, down 5.9 percent from April 2006, to a total of 308,100 tons. However, the inventory correction at Canadian steel service centers appears to have ended, as they rose slightly from March levels, to 1.29 million tons, up 17.7 percent from the previous year, and equaling a 4.2-month supply at current shipping rates.
The MAR is based on data from metals service centers in the United States and Canada, and is produced by MSCI and a third-party econometrics and strategy firm, McCoy, Scott & Co.