US mills steel shipments up 1.2% in May

By Paul Ploumis 13 Jul 2015 Last updated at 01:30:45 GMT

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The most recent report released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI)- the association of North American steel producers indicates that the US steel mill shipments increased slightly by 1.2% in May this year over the previous month. However, the shipments in May 2015 were down sharply by 14.6% when compared with the figures recorded during same month the previous year.

According to AISI, the US steel mills shipment for the month of May totaled 7,175,211 net tons, up 1.2% when compared to the total shipments of 7,087,864 net tons during April this year. Meantime, steel shipments in May this year witnessed considerable decline over the year. Steel shipments dropped by 14.6% during May ‘15, when compared with the 8,398,976 net tons shipment during May 2014.

The US steel shipments for the initial five-month period of the year declined by 10.5% to 36.222 million net tons as against 40.485 million tons shipment during the corresponding five-month period from January to May last year.

The products which witnessed sizable changes in shipments during the month of May when compared with the previous month were: hot rolled sheet (up by 4%), hot dipped galvanized sheet and strip (up by 1.0%), and cold rolled sheets (up 0.3%).