Domestic Service Center Shipments, Inventories Continue to Slide through November
01/02/2009 - Service center shipments of steel fell 32.7% in the U.S. and 30% in Canada in November according to the latest Metals Activity Report from the Metals Service Center Institute.
Metals service center shipments in the U.S. and Canada sharply contracted through November 2008 as the market continued to cope with the turmoil unleashed by the housing and ongoing financial crisis. According to the latest Metals Activity Report from the Metals Service Center Institute, service center shipments of steel fell 32.7% in the U.S. and 30% in Canada in November as customers stayed in a wait-and-see mode. The report noted that last time year-over-year steel shipments declined by this magnitude was the 1980-82 recession period.
Metals inventories also fell, with end-of-November U.S. steel inventories at their lowest level in nearly 13 years, and Canadian steel inventories at the lowest level since the statistical series began with January 1995 data.
According to the report, steel product shipments from U.S. metals service centers fell 32.7% from year-earlier levels to about 2.71 million tons in November. That brought total U.S. service center steel shipments for the first 11 months of the year to 44.4 million tons, or 9.3% below the same period in 2007. Month-end inventories of 9.1 million tons were down 11% from November 2007. At current shipping rates, inventories equaled a 3.4-month supply of steel, up sharply from the October figure because shipping volumes have dropped so low.
November steel products shipments from Canadian metals service centers totaled 449,000 tons, down 30.2% from the same month last year. Year-to-date shipments in Canada total 6.4 million tons, a decline of 9.7% from the 11-month 2007 period. Canadian service centers ended November with 1.2 million tons of steel products on hand, a decline of 28.1% from last November, when service centers ended the month with the equivalent of a 2.7-month supply.
Aluminum shipments from U.S. service centers totaled 98,300 tons in November, down 31.9% from the November 2007 volume. U.S. shipments of aluminum for the first 11 months of the year total 1.59 million tons, a decline of 8.5% from last year. U.S. inventories of aluminum products at the end of November totaled 367,300 tons, down 16% from November 2007 inventories. At current shipping rates, the month-end inventory represents a 3.7-month supply.
In Canada, metals service centers shipped 12,700 tons of aluminum products in November, a decline of 10.6% from a year ago. Year-to-date shipments total 155,900 tons for Canada, off 2.6% from the 11-month period of 2007. Canadian service center aluminum inventories at the end of the month totaled 35,000 tons, 15.8% lower than at the same time last year. At current shipping rates, inventories equaled a 2.8-month supply.
The Metals Activity Report (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.
Founded in 1909, the Metals Service Center Institute has more than 420 members operating from about 1200 locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere in the world. Together, MSCI members constitute the largest single group of metals purchasers in North America, amounting each year to more than 60 million tons of steel, aluminum, and other metals, with about 300,000 manufacturers and fabricators as customers. MSCI’s membership also includes most ferrous and non-ferrous industrial metals producers in North America. Metals service centers inventory and distribute metals and provide first-stage fabrication services.
