Shipments of steel and aluminum by North American service centers declined sharply from November to December, but for domestic metal service centers the volumes were nevertheless stronger than December 2012’s results — and brought the year to an end with a slight increase in U.S. steel deliveries.
For U.S. service centers, the results contained in the Metals Service Center Institute’s Monthly activity report were enough for the group to state that “December shipments lifted 2013 annual shipments to levels roughly equal with 2012 for both metals,” while allowing that “2013 remained slightly below 2012 in Canada.”
MSCI is a trade association for service centers and metal processors across North America. It prepares the monthly summary of steel and aluminum shipments from data reported by member companies in the U.S. and Canada, and tracks inventory levels at those locations.
Given holiday schedules, December is a typically slow month for service center deliveries, so some decline from Novemer totals may be expected.
