Steel Product Shipments and Inventories through December

Steel product shipments continued to improve through December, reporting an increase for the ninth consecutive month. Steel product shipments exceeded pre-pandemic levels to close out the year following a steady but slow rebound since reaching bottom in April 2020, according to Census Bureau data on inventories, shipments and new orders for total U.S. manufacturing and steel products.

Total shipments and inventories are reported in millions of dollars, seasonally adjusted. Year over year through December, total manufactured product shipments rose by 0.1%, the first positive mark all year. Steel product shipments were up from positive 0.2% in November to 2.8% in December. Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the history of both since 2005. During the first wave of the global pandemic in April, total manufacturing shipments plunged by 19.4% and steel product shipments fell by 21.4% compared with the prior year. Both have steadily recovered since, helping 2020 close out with some optimism.