EU H1 flat steel service center shipments slump 21.8% on year: EUROMETAL

Flat steel shipments from EU service centers fell by 21.8% year on year in the first half of 2020 while stocks rose, service center and distributors’ association EUROMETAL reported Aug. 28.

Stockholders’ distribution of multi-product & proximity steel — including long steel products — fell 13.1% over the same period. Stocks of these products at the end of June were lower than a year earlier, it said.

Flat products

In June, strip mill products shipments fell 16.5% on the year, a smaller percentage drop than the 38.5% in May, EUROMETAL said.

Expressed in days of shipments, stocks at EU steel service centers reached 84 days’ worth of shipments in June 2020, compared with 79 days in June 2019, the association reported.

Multi-products

In H1, EU multi-product and proximity steel stockholding distribution registered lower shipments for almost all products of its portfolio, with only rebar shipments increasing in the period, EUROMETAL said.

In June, these steel products shipments fell 10.2% from June 2019, it said.

Expressed in days of shipments, stock volumes of these products leveled in June 2020 at 81 days’ worth of shipments, down from 83 days in June 2019, the association said.

— Diana Kinch