US and Canadian service centers' steel product inventories in August rose to levels not seen in more than a year, with the US at its highest level since June 2012 and Canada at its highest level since May 2013, according to Metals Service Center Institute data released Wednesday.
In the US, service centers stocked 9.01 million st of steel products at the end of August, up 3% from July's 8.74 million st and 13.5% from August 2013's 7.95 million st. Based on current shipping levels, August inventories represented 2.5 months of supply.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Timna Tanners found that steel inventories in August reached their highest point since June 2012.
In a research note, Tanners said that inventories increased across all steel products, except for stainless and structural products, which decreased 2% and 1% on July, respectively.
Steel shipments slid to 3.63 million st in August from 3.7 million st in July. August shipments were flat year on year, though shipments January-August this year increased 4% year on year to 29.29 million st.
Plate shipments increased 11% year on year, while stainless shipments climbed 6%, according to the BAML report.
"Structural shipments inched down 0.1% [year over year] despite the underlying non-residential construction recovery we see," Tanners added.
CANADA BOOSTS INVENTORIES
Canadian service centers housed 1.5 million st of steel products at the end of August, up 2% from 1.47 million st in July and up 8% from 1.39 million st in August 2013.
At the current shipping rate, this inventory represented 3.3 months of supply.
Service center shipments slid to 456,600 st in August, down from 482,400 st in July. August shipments decreased 4.6% from 478,700 st in August 2013.
Canadian steel shipments are down 0.5% in January-August with a total of 3.87 million st shipped.
