NEW YORK — U.S. steel mills’ shipments fell 0.5 percent month on month to 7.4 million net tons in November, according to American Iron and Steel Institute data.

That figure was also 0.2 percent lower than the 7.41 million tons shipped in November 2011.

Hot-rolled sheet shipping volumes increased 4 percent in November, cold-rolled sheet decreased 3 percent and hot-dipped galvanized sheet and strip fell 6 percent compared with October.

Shipments for the first 11 months of 2012 totaled 88.47 million tons, up 5.6 percent from 83.78 million tons in the same period of 2011.