Steel inventories were measured at 8,953.9 thousand tons at the end of August, a 0.2% increase from July and a 5.8% increase from August 2011. At the current shipping rate, there is a 2.5-month supply in inventory, up 6.9% from 2011.
Aluminum products shipped from U.S. service centers in August were down 13% from July 2012 levels. In total, 134.1 thousand tons of aluminum was moved by service centers making a total of 1,048.9 thousand tons shipped in 2012, a 3.1% increase from the same time period in 2011.
At the end of August, there was a 380.7 thousand-ton aluminum inventory, a 5.5% increase from August 2011, but a 1.8% decrease from July 2012. At the current shipping rate, there is a 2.8-month supply of aluminum, up 7.0% from last year at this time.
