EU distributors see shipments decrease to end-April

European distributors and flat service centres saw their shipments fall during the first four months of the year, according to the latest data published by distributors’ association EUROMETAL.

Flat service centres saw shipments decrease -1.9% y-o-y during the period to the end of April, while multi-product distributors saw a fall of some -3.9% y-o-y, Kallanish notes.

Despite the reduction in shipments, both service centres and multi-product distributors registered higher stocks in April compared to the same period twelve months before. The stock volume index closed at 116 in April 2017, compared to 104 in April 2016 (average 2015 = Index 100), EUROMETAL says.

This indicates that while real demand has suffered somewhat so far in 2017, apparent demand has remained relatively firm.