Note 5 - Inventories

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

5.	Inventories:

Inventories consisted of the following:

	Inventory as of
(in thousands)	March 31, 2019		December 31, 2018
Unprocessed	$	286,430	$	306,953
Processed and finished		56,446		61,785
Totals	$	342,876	$	368,738

The Company values certain of its tubular and pipe products inventory at the last-in,

first

-out (LIFO) method. At

March 31, 2019

and

December 31, 2018,

approximately

$51.5

million, or

15.0%

of consolidated inventory, and

$51.1

million, or

13.9%

of consolidated inventory, respectively, was reported under the LIFO method of accounting. The cost of the remainder of the tubular and pipe products inventory is determined using a weighted average rolling

first

-in,

first

-out (FIFO) method.

The Company did

not

record any LIFO expense during the

three

months ended

March 31, 2019,

as current projections anticipate

material change to the LIFO reserve by

December, 31, 2019.

During the

three

months ended

March 31, 2018,

the Company recorded

$0.5

million of LIFO expense.

If the FIFO method had been in use, inventories would have been

$3.1

million higher than reported at

March 31, 2019

and

December 31, 2018.