Service center shipments rise

摘要

U.S. service center months of metal on hand dropped significantly in January to 3.9 months. This compares to 4.3 months in December, the highest level of the past two years, according to the Metals Service Center Institute. Shipments jumped from 1.7 million tons in December to 2.1 million tons in January. January's daily shipping rate of 96,307 tons was almost a 10 percent jump over December's 88,122 tons. It comes as no surprise that 58 percent of North American service centers in February anticipated average daily shipping levels to be above those of the previous month, MSCI's Business Conditions Survey stated. This compares to 27 percent the previous month and only 7 percent in December, a typically slow month.