Posted on 09 Dec 2022
Finished steel stocks at trading warehouses across China continued to increase over December 2-8 after the 4,900 tonnes on-week uptick in the prior period, according to Mysteel's latest survey. The total climbed by another 106,100 tonnes on week, chiefly due to the softening demand in winter and higher steel production.
Some market insiders said the pace at which the stocks rose was slower than expected, mainly as logistics disruptions had eased due to the optimized COVID-19 prevention and control measures introduced by the central government.
The stocks of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate held by traders in the 132 cities surveyed by Mysteel mounted by 0.8% on week to total 14.1 million tonnes as of December 8.
Among the total, rebar witnessed the sharpest on-week gain with the tonnage growing by 201,400 tonnes to 5.7 million tonnes by December 8. The stocks of wire rod edged up by 17,200 tonnes during the same period to 1.7 million tonnes as of the same day, the survey showed.
On the other hand, higher output among steel mills also resulted in the steady build-up in stocks, with production of the five steel items among the 184 Chinese steelmakers Mysteel checks rising for the second week, increasing by 1.6% or 145,900 tonnes on week to approximately 9.4 million tonnes over December 1-7.
Meanwhile, the daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 traders across China under Mysteel's tracking averaged just 134,204 tonnes/day over December 1-7, staying largely flat as against 134,200 t/d in the previous week.
Steel inventories held by traders in Mysteel's former smaller sample across just 35 cities ended their eight-week decline, rising by a tiny 0.6% or 49,500 tonnes on week to 8.6 million tonnes as of December 8.
Source:Mysteel Global
