Shipments of steel and aluminum by North American service centers started the year with solid improvements over the wind-down of December 2013 — and though the year-on year changes were comparatively minor, the steady increases seemed to reduce the operators inventory levels.
The January results are contained in the Metal Service Center Institute’s Metals Activity Report. MSCI is a trade association for service centers and metal processors across North America. It prepares the monthly summary of steel and aluminum shipments from data reported by member companies in the U.S. and Canada, and tracks inventory levels at those locations.