US service centers shipped 133,200 st of aluminum products in January, up 8.3% year on year, Metals Service Center Institute data showed Wednesday.
Inventories of aluminum products at the end of January stood at 386,700 st, up 1.2% from end-January 2016. This represents 2.9 months of aluminum inventory at the current shipping rate, down from 3.1 months a year earlier, MSCI said.
Illinois-based MSCI also said Canadian service centers shipped 10,900 st of aluminum products excluding extrusions in January, up 10.3% year on year.
Canadian service center inventories of aluminum products were 30,700 st at the end of January, up 0.7% year on year. At the current shipping rate, Canada's aluminum distributors were carrying 2.8 months of supply in inventory, down from 3.1 months the year earlier.
