Posted on 23 Dec 2022
Inventories of the five major carbon steel products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate held by the 184 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's regular survey reversed up during December 15-21 after the prior week's decrease, climbing by 3.8% on week to 4.32 million tonnes.
The accumulation was mainly reflected in the stocks of long steel, with the volumes of rebar and wire rod jumping by 88,800 tonnes and 67,900 tonnes respectively on week, the survey showed.
One major reason for the rebound in mills' stocks was the shrinking demand, as many steel-consuming industries have been impacted by the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 infections after the central government had optimized policies relating to virus control.
Besides, the gradual decrease in steel consumption from end-users was in line with market expectations, given the falling temperatures in northern China and the looming Chinese New Year holiday next month, Mysteel Global noted.
Over December 15-21, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged 132,495 tonnes/day, down 26,899 t/d or 16.9% from the previous week.
Total production of the five major steel products among the surveyed steel mills witnessed an on-week fall of 2.5% to 9.21 million tonnes over December 15-21, as some Chinese steel producers conducted year-end maintenance on their steelmaking facilities, given the slowing demand.
Chinese finished steel prices have softened somewhat this week, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, reaching Yuan 4,110/tonne ($589/t) including the 13% VAT as of December 21, higher by Yuan 51/t on week though down from the recent high reached on December 16.
Inventories of the five steel items at commercial warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities under Mysteel's regular survey declined further to 13.8 million tonnes over December 16-22, while the on-week fall slowed to 0.7%, as against the 1.4% over the prior week, according to the survey.
Source:Mysteel Global
