Posted on 22 Dec 2023
The stocks of major finished steel items at trading company warehouses across China tracked by Mysteel increased during December 15-21 after declining for ten successive weeks, according to Mysteel's latest survey result. The total volume ticked up by 0.7% on week, as continuing cold temperatures in most parts of the country had caused demand for long products from building contractors to fall markedly, sources said.
The stocks of five finished steel items comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil and medium plate held by traders in the 132 cities Mysteel follows mounted by 95,800 tonnes on week to reach 14.7 million tonnes as of December 21, the survey showed.
Among the totals, rebar witnessed the sharpest on-week gain where stocks had swollen by 168,800 tonnes on week at 5.6 million tonnes by Thursday.
The rise in total steel stocks was within many market participants' expectations, however. "I'm not surprised because long steel demand has already started to shrink for seasonal reasons. Besides, the plunging temperatures across the country this week had severely hampered work on construction sites," said a source based in Shanghai.
The spot trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among 237 traders nationwide under Mysteel's tracking thinned by a large 25,106 tonnes/day or 17.6% from the previous week to average merely 117,793 t/d over December 14-20.
In contrast, HRC inventories declined further by 166,200 tonnes during the survey period to 3.5 million tonnes as of Thursday. The drop was mainly underpinned by the replenishment needs of the manufacturing sector and resilient export demand, according to another industry watcher.
On the other hand, steel inventories held by traders in Mysteel's former smaller sample across just 35 cities continued to fall during the survey week, though the pace slowed further, with the tonnage nudging down 0.4% or 35,100 tonnes on week to 8.6 million tonnes as of December 21.
Source:Mysteel Global
