Shipments from European flat steel service centres (SSC) recovered year-on-year in May for the first time in 2019, according to the latest report by the regional steel distributors’ association EUROMETAL.
In a note sent to Kallanish, the association says that overall SSC shipments rose by 1% y-o-y in May. Although this was the first positive monthly on-year change in 2019, the aggregate figure for the first five months of the year remains negative (-1.9% y-o-y), EUROMETAL says.
The trend in SSC shipments was accompanied by a rising trend in SSC stock indices. When expressed in days of shipments, stocks at EU SSC were 70 days in May 2019, compared to 67 days in May 2018. For May 2019, the stock volumes’ index was 119, compared with a figure of 114 in May 2018 (average 2015 = index 100).
Multi products proximity distributors’ shipments continued to underperform compared with last year. These were down -1.7% y-o-y in May and -2.5% y-o-y over the January-May period, EUROMETAL adds. The stock volume index for these products was practically unchanged y-o-y at 100 (May 2018 – 101). When expressed in days of shipments, stock volumes levelled in May at 76 days of shipments, unchanged when compared to May 2018.
