Shipments of steel from U.S. service centers continued their decline in June 2013 with a 4.7% decrease compared to June 2012, according to the Metal Service Centers Institute. Inventories also shortened by 1% from May 2013. This is a 7.6% decrease in months of inventory at the current shipping rate.
Aluminum shipments also were on the decline in June 2013 with a reported 5.4% decrease compared to June 2012. There was a 2.7% reduction of aluminum inventories compared to last year as well.
Declines were more stark in Canada, with steel shipments falling 14.6% in June 2013 compared to the previous year. Inventories dropped 7.4% from June 2012, but that is an increase of 8.5% at the current shipping rate.
Aluminum shipments in Canada fell 4.8% and inventories decreased 1.9% compared to June 2012 numbers. That is an increase of 3% compared to last year.
