This Morning in Metals: U.S. steel shipments down 32.9% in May

May steel shipments

U.S. steel shipments in May fell 32.9% year over year, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
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“The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that for the month of May 2020, U.S. steel mills shipped 5,461,851 net tons, a 2.9 percent decrease from the 5,623,229 net tons shipped in the previous month, April 2020, and a 32.9 percent decrease from the 8,142,270 net tons shipped in May 2019,” the AISI said. “Shipments year-to-date in 2020 are 35,194,683 net tons, a 13.1 percent decrease vs. 2019 shipments of 40,504,746 for five months.”

Copper and COVID-19

As reported by Bloomberg, a lab in Chile is using copper in the fight against COVID-19, as the country has seen a rise in coronavirus cases in recent weeks.
Aintech, a lab based in Santiago, is using copper nanoparticles in disinfectants, Bloomberg reports.

Aluminum can shortage

PennLive.com reported on a national aluminum can shortage that has impacted some grocery stores in central Pennsylvania.
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Per the report, stay-at-home orders led to a surge in demand for beverages packaged in aluminum cans (as opposed to bottles).

“The result is significantly increased demand for aluminum cans and a shortage in the sense that nobody – beer, soda companies – can get enough to meet their long-term needs,” said Dennis Curtin, a spokesman for Weis Markets, to Penn Live. “They’re buying an immense amount of cans but it is not enough over the long run.”