Due to the slowing North American economy, steel shipments from service centers in the US and Canada were down significantly in March from year-ago levels, the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) has reported.
Bucking the seasonal service center trends usually seen this time of year of rising shipments and expanding inventories, in March 2008, shipments and inventory totals declined by double digit rates from those in March 2007.
According to MSCI data, US service center inventories at the end of March totaled 12.1 million nt, 18.6 percent below the year-ago level, equaling a 2.8-month supply. Canadian steel inventories totaled 1.1 million nt, down 10.2 percent from March 2007 and representing a 3.7-month supply.
Steel shipments from US service centers in March were down 11.2 percent from March 2007 to 4.25 million tons, while shipments from Canadian service centers totaled 298,500 nt, down 12.7 percent from the year-ago number. For the full first quarter of 2008, US shipments totaled 13.1 million nt, 4.8 percent below those in Q1 of 2007. Canadian shipments in the first quarter were down 3.0 percent from last year.