Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). And our first question will come from Sal Tharani with Goldman Sachs.
Sal Tharani - Goldman Sachs
Good afternoon guys.
Michael Siegal
Hi Sal.
Richard Marabito
Hi Sal.
Sal Tharani - Goldman Sachs
Couple of questions, you mentioned that on inventory you had a goal of 25% and you actually exceeded and reduced this tonnage by 32%. How are you seeing at the end users? Are they -- have they also running lean and have reduced inventories dramatically like the service centers have?
David Wolfort
Sal, David here. I feel that the short answer is yes. We see -- we see the end users reducing their, not only their finished goods but their raw materials corresponding quite frankly to lower thresholds of business.
Sal Tharani - Goldman Sachs
Okay. And when I look at the third quarter, you mentioned in your press release that you'll see things improving from the price side. How is the shipment volume you're looking at? Do you think that third quarter volumes across the industry will be better than the second quarter?
David Wolfort
I think...
Michael Siegal
Marginally, yes. Go ahead, David.
David Wolfort
Sal, as Michael just indicated, we do see some marginal improvement. Of course, we've come from some very depressed ways as you well know and we saw the -- we saw that depression really start to ferment in the beginning of March and then obviously cascaded dramatically in to second quarter.
And from our perspective, the weakest of the market occurred at the latter part of May and then we've started to see some hints of recovery here in June and July.
Sal Tharani - Goldman Sachs
And yes, go ahead.
Michael Siegal
In particular, particularly in automotive obviously. It was a very big challenging second quarter from a volume perspective in automotive.
Sal Tharani - Goldman Sachs
Are you seeing improvement in automotive now?
Michael Siegal
Yeah, marginal.
Sal Tharani - Goldman Sachs
Okay. And lastly as a company, is your goal is to reduce the inventory further in the third quarter or you think that you will need to pluck some holes you might have in the inventory?
Richard Marabito
Well Sal, this is Rick. I mean our goal is to get back to our historical five plus inventory turn. We've talked about almost being there. So obviously, if demand remains about the same, you will structure lower inventories from Olympic Steel in the third quarter.
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