Metals Service Center Institute has announced that August 2012 shipments were slightly lower than in the same month in 2011 for steel in the US and for steel in Canada.

US Service Center Activity
US service centers shipped 3,653,100 tons of steel products in the month of August, 2012. This represents a decrease of 1.0% YoY from August 2011. YTD 2012 steel shipments were 29,031,200 tons, an increase of 4.9% YoY from the same period in 2011.

Steel product inventories were 8,953,900 tons at the end of August 2012, 2012, an increase of 5.8% YoY over August 2011 and an increase of 0.2% MoM. At the current shipping rate, this represents 2.5 months supply in inventory, an increase of 6.9% from a year ago.

Canadian Service Center Activity
Canadian service centers shipped 513,400 tonnes of steel products in the month of August, 2012. This represents a decrease of 5.1% YoY from August 2011. YTD 2012 steel shipments were 4,287,700 tonnes, an increase of 0.9% YoY.

Steel product inventories were 1,621,700 tonnes at the end of August 2012, a decrease of 0.3% YoY from August a year ago and a decrease of 0.8% MoM. At the current shipping rate, this represents 3.2 months supply in inventory, an increase of 5.1% from a year ago.

Founded in 1909, the Metals Service Center Institute, based in Rolling Meadows, has nearly 400 members operating from more than 1,500 locations in the US, Canada, Mexico and throughout the world.

Source - Metals Service Center Institute

(www.steelguru.com)