Import ‘glut’ dampens plate buys: SSAB exec

Sep 24, 2012 | 03:43 PM | Frank Haflich

Tags  steel plate, SSAB Americas, Jeffrey Moskaluk, Frank Haflich

SEAL BEACH, Calif. — Heavy imports earlier this year, along with lingering uncertainty about demand, could mean a slowdown in service center buys of steel plate through the end of the year, according to Jeffery J. Moskaluk, chief commercial officer of SSAB Americas.

In the fourth quarter, "we would certainly expect service centers to remain cautious on purchasing for inventory," Moskaluk said.

Moskaluk, who addressed an Association of Women in the Metals Industry event last week and was briefly interviewed by AMM afterward, noted that most distributors’ plate inventories have been climbing in recent months. According to data from the Metals Service Center Institute released last week, U.S. distributors’ steel plate inventories in August totaled 3.3 months’ worth of supply at current shipping levels, up from....





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