Steel Mills

Canadian Distributor Flat Rolled Inventories Show Slight Decline in February
Written by Brett Linton
March 17, 2016
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of January were 396,900 net tons, an increase of 1.8 percent from the month before and an increase of 2.0 percent from February 2015. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,211,700 tons, down 3.1 percent from last month and down 21.6 percent from the same month one year ago.
The daily average receipt rate for February was 17,067 tons per day (21 day month), down from January’s surge of 23,695 tons per day (20 day month). Total February receipts were 115,500 tons lower than the January figure. According to the MSCI, total steel product inventories stood at 3.1 months at the end of February, down from 3.2 months at the end of January.
Flat Rolled
Canadian shipments of flat rolled products for the month of February were 236,200 tons, an increase of 6.3 percent from January and an increase of 6.6 percent from the same month one year ago. Inventories at the end of the month were 754,500 tons, down 3.1 percent from last month and down 18.5 percent from the same month one year ago. The daily receipt rate for February was 10,086 tons per day, down from 14,675 tons per day the month before. Total tonnage received was 211,800 tons, down from 293,500 tons the month before. Flat rolled inventories stood at 3.2 months in February, down from 3.5 months of supply in January.
Plate
Canadian shipments for plate products in the month of February were 71,400 tons, a decrease of 9.0 percent from the previous month and a decrease of 9.8 percent from February 2015. Inventories at the end of the month were 184,000 tons, a decrease of 5.7 percent from last month and a decrease of 44.3 percent from the same month one year ago. The daily average receipt rate for February was 2,867 tons per day, down from 4,030 tons per day the month before. Plate inventories ended the month at 2.6 months, up from 2.5 months last month.
Pipe and Tube
Canadian shipments for pipe and tube products in the month of February were 43,200 tons, a decrease of 2.5 percent from the month before and a decrease of 3.2 percent from the same month last year. Inventories at the end of the month were 136,100 tons, up 0.6 percent from last month but down 6.5 percent from the same month one year ago. The daily average receipt rate for February was 2,095 tons per day, down from 2,275 tons per day the month before. Total months on hand for pipe and tube inventories stood at 3.1 months, unchanged from the end of January.

Brett Linton
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