Posted on 23 Sep 2022
The inventories of finished steel products in the warehouses of Chinese traders reversed down by 1.8% over September 16-22 after the short-lived gain in the prior week, Mysteel's latest weekly survey shows. Behind the decline was the near-term improvement in steel demand and some end-users building inventory in advance of the approaching National Day holiday (October 1-7), sources said.
The stocks of five major steel products held by traders in the 132 cities Mysteel surveys declined 341,700 tonnes on week to 18.2 million tonnes as of September 22, the survey showed. The five items comprise rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate.
During the week, all five steel items showed on-week falls in their inventories, the survey data showed. Among these, rebar and wire rod dropped the most, declining by 109,400 tonnes and 106,900 tonnes respectively on week to 7.5 million tonnes and 2.7 million tonnes by September 22.
The daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses across the country that Mysteel checks averaged 169,785 tonnes/day over September 19-22, some 20,558 t/d or 13.8% higher than during the same period last week.
Looking ahead, "with the holiday break drawing near, the replenishment needs of consumers next week may be more significant, and the pace of destocking may be faster," one survey respondent predicted.
Meanwhile, the inventories of finished steel products in Mysteel's former smaller sample across just 35 cities also reversed down by 187,500 tonnes or 1.7% on week to 10.9 million tonnes as of Thursday.
Source:Mysteel Global
