SMU Service Center Inventories

Service Center Inventories

For steel service centers, inventory management is the lifeblood of the business. Overstocking steel adds unnecessary costs while stocking too little results in missed sales, back orders, and unhappy customers. To gauge whether companies have the right amount of material on hand, service center purchasing managers need a reliable benchmark to compare their stock levels against their peers.

Steel Market Update (SMU) surveys key data providers each month to gather the latest information on steel sheet and plate inventories, available here to SMU Premium members. Data providers receive an enhanced version of the SMU Service Center Inventories Report that includes exclusive on-order data.

The charts and graphs below show final adjusted service center inventory and shipment data and are updated on the eleventh business day of each month.

Data through October 2025. November 2025 data will be released on Dec. 15, 2025.

Sheet Data
Plate Data

SCI Plate Data

Date	Inventory	Shipments	Shipping Days	Days of Supply	Months of Supply	SMU PL mo. avg.
January 1, 2019	266,163	96,696	22.0	60.6	2.75	998
February 1, 2019	282,504	85,509	20.0	66.1	3.30	999
March 1, 2019	294,252	90,652	21.0	68.2	3.25	991
April 1, 2019	294,404	94,573	22.0	68.5	3.11	964
May 1, 2019	272,046	97,426	22.0	61.4	2.79	920
June 1, 2019	251,142	89,011	20.0	56.4	2.82	848
July 1, 2019	233,542	90,482	22.0	55.5	2.58	776
August 1, 2019	247,381	104,465	22.0	52.1	2.37	798
September 1, 2019	245,332	101,705	20.0	48.2	2.41	744
October 1, 2019	273,092	104,473	23.0	60.1	2.61	666
November 1, 2019	244,611	81,303	19.0	57.2	3.01	663
December 1, 2019	262,880	87,014	20.0	60.4	3.02	688
January 1, 2020	266,912	121,349	22.0	48.4	2.20	705
February 1, 2020	256,950	104,904	20.0	49.0	2.45	686
March 1, 2020	247,646	104,483	22.0	52.1	2.37	652
April 1, 2020	257,574	79,408	22.0	71.4	3.24	609
May 1, 2020	238,735	78,319	20.0	61.0	3.05	595
June 1, 2020	222,982	83,561	22.0	58.7	2.67	613
July 1, 2020	214,353	86,205	22.0	54.7	2.49	603
August 1, 2020	223,320	82,433	21.0	56.9	2.71	593
September 1, 2020	224,157	91,771	21.0	51.3	2.44	617
October 1, 2020	209,415	100,462	22.0	45.9	2.08	648
November 1, 2020	211,203	87,747	19.0	45.7	2.41	696
December 1, 2020	210,048	90,896	22.0	50.8	2.31	826
January 1, 2021	210,271	90,425	20.0	46.5	2.33	965
February 1, 2021	201,780	86,614	20.0	46.6	2.33	1,056
March 1, 2021	191,077	102,224	23.0	43.0	1.87	1,126
April 1, 2021	196,718	96,439	21.0	42.8	2.04	1,205
May 1, 2021	198,502	87,800	20.0	45.2	2.26	1,355
June 1, 2021	195,080	97,431	22.0	44.0	2.00	1,456
July 1, 2021	204,130	86,399	21.0	49.6	2.36	1,576
August 1, 2021	220,963	90,038	22.0	54.0	2.45	1,686
September 1, 2021	222,337	85,076	21.0	54.9	2.61	1,759
October 1, 2021	234,799	81,853	21.0	60.2	2.87	1,804
November 1, 2021	234,826	78,076	20.0	60.2	3.01	1,798
December 1, 2021	251,862	75,078	20.0	67.1	3.35	1,806
January 1, 2022	245,243	92,007	21.0	56.0	2.67	1,809
February 1, 2022	223,196	87,369	20.0	51.1	2.55	1,805
March 1, 2022	203,928	105,577	23.0	44.4	1.93	1,837
April 1, 2022	207,283	85,882	20.0	48.3	2.41	1,903
May 1, 2022	231,914	88,202	21.0	55.2	2.63	1,899
June 1, 2022	220,801	88,848	22.0	54.7	2.49	1,819
July 1, 2022	225,297	70,608	20.0	63.8	3.19	1,803
August 1, 2022	214,304	82,993	23.0	59.4	2.58	1,728
September 1, 2022	200,857	83,976	21.0	50.2	2.39	1,679
October 1, 2022	187,469	83,180	21.0	47.3	2.25	1,605
November 1, 2022	192,023	76,337	20.0	50.3	2.52	1,560
December 1, 2022	199,216	69,476	20.0	57.3	2.87	1,435
January 1, 2023	192,657	88,336	21.0	45.8	2.18	1,436
February 1, 2023	198,118	88,128	20.0	45.0	2.25	1,458
March 1, 2023	193,284	108,434	23.0	41.0	1.78	1,530
April 1, 2023	210,668	86,822	19.0	46.1	2.43	1,559
May 1, 2023	222,668	88,429	22.0	55.4	2.52	1,528
June 1, 2023	232,786	88,187	22.0	58.1	2.64	1,495
July 1, 2023	232,208	77,440	20.0	60.0	3.00	1,505
August 1, 2023	232,431	87,326	23.0	61.2	2.66	1,473
September 1, 2023	235,731	74,201	20.0	63.5	3.18	1,463
October 1, 2023	232,021	82,553	22.0	61.8	2.81	1,464
November 1, 2023	230,538	74,706	20.0	61.7	3.09	1,365
December 1, 2023	229,349	65,649	19.0	66.4	3.49	1,408
January 1, 2024	242,345	84,157	22.0	63.4	2.88	1,391
February 1, 2024	248,158	88,572	21.0	58.8	2.80	1,333
March 1, 2024	237,398	82,244	21.0	60.6	2.89	1,265
April 1, 2024	241,541	91,075	22.0	58.3	2.65	1,223
May 1, 2024	241,480	86,940	22.0	61.1	2.78	1,158
June 1, 2024	229,234	77,666	20.0	59.0	2.95	1,124
July 1, 2024	222,732	80,473	22.0	60.9	2.77	1,038
August 1, 2024	217,634	83,972	22.0	57.0	2.59	993
September 1, 2024	211,527	80,275	20.0	52.7	2.64	953
October 1, 2024	202,802	89,059	23.0	52.4	2.28	916
November 1, 2024	198,095	74,552	19.0	50.5	2.66	879
December 1, 2024	204,971	70,536	20.0	58.1	2.91	861
January 1, 2025	212,382	86,107	22.0	54.3	2.47	865
February 1, 2025	209,905	85,598	20.0	49.0	2.45	994
March 1, 2025	211,674	97,321	21.0	45.7	2.18	1,175
April 1, 2025	213,743	86,357	22.0	54.5	2.48	1,189
May 1, 2025	212,174	79,955	21.0	55.7	2.65	1,139
June 1, 2025	238,753	84,425	21.0	59.4	2.83	1,139
July 1, 2025	245,514	88,086	22.0	61.3	2.79	1,101
August 1, 2025	236,069	86,369	21.0	57.4	2.73	1,045
September 1, 2025	241,393	86,384	21.0	58.7	2.79	985
October 1, 2025	234,024	90,982	23.0	59.2	2.57	979
Date	Inventory	Shipments	Shipping Days	Days of Supply	Months of Supply	SMU PL mo. avg.

SCI Sheet Data

Date	Inventory	Shipments	Shipping Days	Days of Supply	Months of Supply	SMU HR Mo. Avg.
January 1, 2019	1,448,426	631,615	22.0	50.5	2.29	0.0000
February 1, 2019	1,304,732	513,638	20.0	50.8	2.54	0.0000
March 1, 2019	1,307,352	479,706	21.0	57.2	2.73	0.0000
April 1, 2019	1,959,495	771,448	22.0	55.9	2.54	0.0000
May 1, 2019	1,970,587	779,260	22.0	55.6	2.53	0.0000
June 1, 2019	1,949,683	765,847	20.0	50.9	2.55	0.0000
July 1, 2019	1,941,385	744,654	22.0	56.1	2.61	0.0000
August 1, 2019	1,921,404	758,151	22.0	55.8	2.53	0.0000
September 1, 2019	1,830,776	733,691	20.0	49.9	2.50	0.0000
October 1, 2019	1,770,466	765,220	23.0	53.2	2.31	0.0000
November 1, 2019	1,810,925	681,813	19.0	50.5	2.66	0.0000
December 1, 2019	1,862,685	592,230	20.0	62.9	3.15	0.0000
January 1, 2020	1,867,448	780,776	22.0	52.6	2.39	0.0000
February 1, 2020	1,930,523	741,729	20.0	51.7	2.58	0.0000
March 1, 2020	1,916,265	773,342	22.0	54.5	2.48	0.0000
April 1, 2020	1,958,775	537,816	22.0	80.1	3.64	0.0000
May 1, 2020	1,915,781	566,801	20.0	67.6	3.38	0.0000
June 1, 2020	1,852,552	651,657	22.0	62.5	2.84	0.0000
July 1, 2020	1,794,896	711,780	22.0	55.5	2.52	0.0000
August 1, 2020	1,713,606	739,848	21.0	48.6	2.32	0.0000
September 1, 2020	1,641,151	766,684	21.0	45.0	2.14	0.0000
October 1, 2020	1,552,516	792,873	22.0	43.1	1.96	0.0000
November 1, 2020	1,502,481	714,464	19.0	40.0	2.10	0.0000
December 1, 2020	1,561,229	669,228	22.0	51.3	2.33	0.0000
January 1, 2021	1,540,817	770,527	20.0	40.0	2.00	0.0000
February 1, 2021	1,569,635	734,910	20.0	42.7	2.14	0.0000
March 1, 2021	1,592,225	884,308	23.0	41.4	1.80	0.0000
April 1, 2021	1,588,164	798,303	21.0	41.8	1.99	0.0000
May 1, 2021	1,723,214	760,224	20.0	45.3	2.27	0.0000
June 1, 2021	1,762,724	814,844	22.0	47.6	2.16	0.0000
July 1, 2021	1,803,328	738,835	21.0	51.3	2.44	0.0000
August 1, 2021	1,864,799	795,487	22.0	51.6	2.34	0.0000
September 1, 2021	1,965,517	757,099	21.0	54.5	2.60	0.0000
October 1, 2021	1,993,854	739,008	21.0	56.7	2.70	0.0000
November 1, 2021	2,007,103	703,153	20.0	57.1	2.85	0.0000
December 1, 2021	2,109,944	660,404	20.0	63.9	3.19	0.0000
January 1, 2022	2,006,862	751,024	21.0	56.1	2.67	0.0000
February 1, 2022	1,947,593	715,836	20.0	54.4	2.72	0.0000
March 1, 2022	1,903,736	842,436	23.0	52.0	2.26	0.0000
April 1, 2022	1,921,160	746,914	20.0	51.4	2.57	0.0000
May 1, 2022	1,967,390	755,271	21.0	54.7	2.60	0.0000
June 1, 2022	1,920,361	768,289	22.0	55.0	2.50	0.0000
July 1, 2022	1,911,170	698,155	20.0	54.7	2.74	0.0000
August 1, 2022	1,828,285	779,958	23.0	53.9	2.34	0.0000
September 1, 2022	1,855,508	738,723	21.0	52.7	2.51	0.0000
October 1, 2022	1,854,940	741,867	21.0	52.5	2.50	0.0000
November 1, 2022	1,833,425	699,812	20.0	52.4	2.62	0.0000
December 1, 2022	1,966,939	643,107	20.0	61.2	3.06	0.0000
January 1, 2023	2,020,601	802,049	21.0	52.9	2.52	0.0000
February 1, 2023	1,953,985	748,956	20.0	52.2	2.61	0.0000
March 1, 2023	1,932,919	843,292	23.0	52.7	2.29	0.0000
April 1, 2023	1,956,484	727,722	19.0	51.1	2.69	0.0000
May 1, 2023	1,926,828	825,491	22.0	51.4	2.33	0.0000
June 1, 2023	1,888,306	793,843	22.0	52.3	2.38	0.0000
July 1, 2023	1,956,848	698,173	20.0	56.1	2.80	0.0000
August 1, 2023	1,952,374	829,418	23.0	54.1	2.35	0.0000
September 1, 2023	1,924,945	722,957	20.0	53.3	2.66	0.0000
October 1, 2023	1,877,149	785,856	22.0	52.6	2.39	0.0000
November 1, 2023	1,881,702	697,253	20.0	54.0	2.70	0.0000
December 1, 2023	2,034,529	596,151	19.0	64.8	3.41	0.0000
January 1, 2024	2,109,647	770,242	22.0	60.3	2.74	0.0000
February 1, 2024	2,108,196	782,120	21.0	56.6	2.70	0.0000
March 1, 2024	2,058,367	741,044	21.0	58.3	2.78	0.0000
April 1, 2024	2,096,434	797,561	22.0	57.8	2.63	0.0000
May 1, 2024	2,117,316	769,089	22.0	60.6	2.75	0.0000
June 1, 2024	2,164,633	710,410	20.0	60.9	3.05	0.0000
July 1, 2024	2,134,500	731,484	22.0	64.2	2.92	0.0000
August 1, 2024	2,329,918	773,186	22.0	66.3	3.01	0.0000
September 1, 2024	2,261,920	743,680	20.0	60.8	3.04	0.0000
October 1, 2024	2,181,638	791,887	23.0	63.4	2.75	0.0000
November 1, 2024	2,130,429	659,467	19.0	61.4	3.23	0.0000
December 1, 2024	2,253,846	584,369	20.0	77.1	3.86	0.0000
January 1, 2025	2,316,587	771,838	22.0	66.0	3.00	0.0000
February 1, 2025	2,229,943	761,628	20.0	58.6	2.93	0.0000
March 1, 2025	2,186,929	815,001	21.0	56.4	2.68	0.0000
April 1, 2025	2,093,288	798,887	22.0	57.6	2.62	0.0000
May 1, 2025	2,048,175	752,835	21.0	57.1	2.72	0.0000
June 1, 2025	2,026,343	763,158	21.0	55.8	2.66	0.0000
July 1, 2025	2,047,390	768,724	22.0	58.6	2.66	0.0000
August 1, 2025	2,048,423	759,807	21.0	56.6	2.70	0.0000
September 1, 2025	1,955,734	756,407	21.0	54.3	2.59	0.0000
October 1, 2025	1,914,904	826,175	23.0	53.3	2.32	0.0000
Date	Inventory	Shipments	Shipping Days	Days of Supply	Months of Supply	SMU HR Mo. Avg.