Steel shipments from mills in the United States in April dropped 3.4 percent compared to a year ago, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
April shipments were 8.8 million net tons, down from 9.1 million net tons in April 2006.
April's total was also a 5.2 percent decrease from the 9.3 million net tons shipped in March.
On a year-to-date basis, steel shipments are down 7.3 percent to service centers and distributors; 3.2 to automobile manu-facturers; 1.1 percent for construction and contractor's products; and 9.8 percent to oil and gas producers.
