Steel Product Shipments and Inventories Through February

U.S. steel product shipments slipped in February by 1.7%, the first decrease since bottoming out in April 2020 when COVID nearly brought the economy to a standstill. Despite the decrease month on month, which may be due to seasonal factors, steel shipments have recovered to pre-pandemic volumes and posted an increase of 5.5% compared to February 2020 levels, 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 February, total manufactured product shipments rose by 1.0%, but were slower compared with a 2.6% gain the month prior. This past December was the first positive mark for manufactured goods in 2020, and February’s total, albeit a slight dip when compared to January, remains positive and well above the big decline seen last April.