Steel product inventories at US steel service centers continued to decline in October, according to the Metals Activity Report (MAR) from the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI).
MSCI reported this week that the MAR showed that steel product inventories at the end of October totaled nearly 12.26 million net tons (nt), 27 percent lower than year-ago levels and the lowest since March 1998, when inventories totaled 12.25 million nt. At current shipping rates, inventories at the end of October represented only a 2.6-month supply.
Steel shipments from US service centers totaled 4.7 million nt in October, up 1.7 percent from October 2006, but off 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Canadian steel service center inventories were also down in October, said MSCI, with stocks at the end of October totaling 1.1 million nt, down 19.7 percent from October 2006 supplies. At current shipping rates, Canadian steel inventories were sufficient for 3.3 months.
Steel shipments from Canadian service centers totaled 331,700 nt in October, down 1.7 percent from year-ago shipments, or down 6.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The MAR, based on data from metals service centers in the United States and Canada, is produced by the Metals Service Center Institute and a third-party econometrics and strategy firm, McCoy, Scott & Co.