Service Center Shipments Slip From March To April

The Metals Service Center Institute reported that North America’s metal service centers managed to maintain their first quarter momentum into April, pointing to a continued strong year-on-year increase for shipments, American Machinist reports. The group reported however, that the monthly volume of shipments of steel declined from March 2010 to April, in the U.S. and Canada.

U.S. metals service centers shipped 3.0 million tons of steel in April 2010, or 22.3% more than during April 2009. Year-to-date shipments now total about 11.5 million tons, or 13.9% more than during the first four months of 2009. However, those same U.S. centers’ total shipments dropped 6.4%, from 3.2 million tons, during March 2010.

Steel inventories at U.S. service centers totaled 6.7 million tons as April ended, roughly 5.6% below April 2009 inventory levels. At the current shipping rates, the total is equal to a 2.2-month supply.

In Canada, service centers’ April steel shipments totaled 492,600 tons, 9.2% higher than in April 2009. It raised year-to-date shipments to about 1.9 million tons, an increase of 12.5% above the January-April 2009 period. Similar to the U.S. results, Canada’s centers’ April shipments were down 4.6% from March’s 516,400 tons of steel shipped. Canadian centers’ steel inventories are reported to total 1.4 million tons, 17.1% higher than recorded for April 2009, and equal to a 2.8-month supply at current shipping rates.