US shipments down, inventories up in December

The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) has reported that steel shipments from US mills dropped sharply in December when compared to the previous year. Steel shipments in December 2006 totaled 3.5 million tons, a 10 percent decrease from the previous year, the MSCI data show. The steel shipment total for the full year was 56 million tons, 2.4 percent higher than the total shipments for 2005, exceeding the previous annual shipping record of 55.6 million tons in 2004. Year-end steel products in inventory at US service centers totaled 16.5 million tons, 28 percent higher than inventories at the end of 2005. At the current shipping rate, this represents a 4.7 month supply, an increase of 42.2 percent from the previous year and an increase of 23.6 percent from November 2006. In Canada, December steel shipments totaled 235,800 tons, a decrease of 12.6 percent from the previous year. Shipments for the full year totaled 3.9 million tons, down 4.7 percent from 2005, and year-end steel inventories totaled 1.3 million tons, up 27.8 percent from the previous year, but down 2.6 percent from November. MSCI is comprised of over 420 members operating from 1,200 locations in North America and worldwide, representing the largest group of metals purchasers in North America.