Posted on 10 Feb 2023
Inventories of the five major carbon steel products held by the 184 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's regular survey rose for the fifth consecutive week over February 2-8, mainly due to higher output among the surveyed steel producers and the still depressed demand of users.
As of February 8, total inventories of the five major steel products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate among the surveyed mills came in at 7.02 million tonnes, higher by another 3.9% from the prior week, the survey showed.
One major reason for the continuous accumulation at mills was the faster recovery in steel output, as more steel producers resumed operations during the survey period, Mysteel Global learned.
Over February 2-8, total production of the five major steel items among the surveyed steelmakers reached 9.02 million tonnes, up for the third week by another 3.7% on week, as against the on-week rise of only 1.4% during the prior week.
However, the rise in mills' stocks slowed somewhat this week, as "the recovery in road transport after the Lantern Festival (on February 5) allowed some steel mills to speed up their pace of delivery," a market source in Shanghai said.
Besides, domestic steel demand also saw some improvement this week as some end-users have returned to the market after their long break and started replenishing their steel stocks.
Yet the limited improvement in demand failed to reverse the downtrend in Chinese steel prices this week, Mysteel Global noted. As of February 8, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 4,247/tonne ($626/t) including the 13% VAT, down Yuan 78/t from one week before.
Inventories of the five steel items at commercial warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities under Mysteel's regular survey also climbed higher to 26.15 million tonnes over February 3-9. The on-week rise slowed to 6.2% however, as against the prior week's 14.5% jump, the survey showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
