The monthly steel shipment data published by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) suggests substantial decline during the month of November last year compared with the same month a year before. However, the shipments surged higher over the previous month. Meantime, the year-to-date shipments by mills were down significantly over 2019.
According to AISI data, the steel mills shipped 6.753 million net tons in November 2020. This is down by 11.9% from the shipments of 7.665 million net tons in the same month in 2019. The shipments during the month recorded marginal increase by 0.1% from the prior month. It must be noted that the shipments had totalled 6.748 million net tons in October last year.
The AISI data indicates that year-to-date steel shipments by the U.S. until November totalled 73.951 million net tons in 2020. This is modestly lower by 16.1% when matched with those during the corresponding period in 2019. The shipments had totalled 88.157 million net tons during the initial eleven-month period in 2019.
The report provides month-on-month comparison of shipment volumes of various steel products. The shipments of hot rolled sheets remained unchanged from October 2020. The shipments of cold rolled sheet surged higher by 4%, whereas those of hot dipped galvanized sheet and strip recorded 2% month-on-month decline.
