In April, US steel service centers saw both shipments and inventories increase slightly from the previous month, the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) has reported.
Steel shipments from US service centers increased both month-over-month and year-over-year in April, rising 3.3 percent from April 2007 to 4.65 million nt. Year to date, however, shipments totaled 17.7 million nt at the end of April, down 2.8 percent from the volume shipped during the first four months of 2007.
Inventories at US steel service centers at the end of the month of 12.4 million nt were down 15.1 percent from April 2007 stocks, though they rose 2.6 percent from the inventory level at the end of March. MSCI explained that the reason for the relatively low inventories is that steel consumers "appear to buy only when they need product, and service centers have maintained inventories closely aligned with demand."
Meanwhile, Canadian steel service centers in April saw shipments increase 6.6 percent from the year-ago month, though steel shipments for the first four months of 2008, at 1.28 million nt, declined by 0.7 percent from the same period of 2007. Steel inventories held by Canadian service centers at the end of April totaled 1.1 million nt, 15.2 percent below year-ago levels.