Posted on 28 Jun 2021
Stocks of the five major finished steel products at the 184 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s weekly survey increased for the third straight week over June 17-23, reflecting the further decline in demand from end-users. Finished steel output among the sampled mills had decreased during the same period.
Total inventories of the five major steel products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate at the surveyed mills reached 6.6 million tonnes as of June 23, swelling at the faster pace of 5.5% on week as against the previous on-week rise of 4.4%.
Steel transactions in the physical market shrank further as China has entered the traditional off-season for steel consumption, given the hot and wet weather conditions over much of the country, Mysteel Global noted.
Over June 17-23, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese traders Mysteel tracks had contracted to 191,311 tonnes/day on average, down 18,538 t/d or 8.8% from the prior week, indicating the lacklustre demand in the domestic market.
Finished steel production among the surveyed 184 mills reversed down to 11.1 million tonnes over June 17-23, mainly because of the rise in mill maintenance stoppages during that period. The survey showed that output was down 0.3% on week after growing for the three prior weeks.
However, market participants are pessimistic about domestic steel market conditions in the coming term as demand is likely to remain weak in the off-season, but steel production remains at a very high level despite the on-week fall.
Domestic steel prices saw a significant decrease over the past week, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar reaching Yuan 4,973/tonne ($768/t) including the 13% VAT as of June 23, losing Yuan 191/t on week, according to Mysteel’s assessment.
Stocks of the five major steel items at the commercial warehouses in 132 cities nationwide also increased for the second week over June 18-24, rising by another 1.7% on week to 22.3 million tonnes, the survey showed.
Table 1 Five major steel products stocks at mills (Jun 17-23)
|
Product |
Volume ('000 t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
3,520.7 |
6.6% |
6.5% |
9.8% |
|
Wire rod |
893.3 |
11.3% |
9.7% |
20.8% |
|
HR sheet |
1,077.6 |
2.3% |
8.8% |
4.9% |
|
CR sheet |
335.3 |
-1.8% |
1.9% |
-4.2% |
|
Medium plate |
819.7 |
2.5% |
1.9% |
-6.7% |
|
Total |
6,646.6 |
5.5% |
6.5% |
7.1% |
Table 2 Five major steel products stocks at traders (Jun 18-24)
|
Product |
Volume (million t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
11.02 |
1.3% |
2.3% |
-1.1% |
|
Wire rod |
3.14 |
0.4% |
-2.4% |
-13.3% |
|
HR sheet |
3.78 |
3.7% |
7.8% |
14.6% |
|
CR sheet |
1.87 |
0.3% |
-0.2% |
3.3% |
|
Medium plate |
2.45 |
3.2% |
8.7% |
41.5% |
|
Total |
22.27 |
1.7% |
3.0% |
3.1% |
Note: Mysteel has started publishing the new set of data regarding traders’ steel inventories since March 19 2020 to better represent the market with bigger sample sizes.
Rebar and wire rod: Sample size is increased to 429 warehouses in 132 Chinese cities from the previous 215 warehouses in 35 cities.
Hot-rolled coil (HRC): Sample size is increased to 194 warehouses in 55 cities from the previous 138 warehouses in 33 cities.
Cold-rolled coil (CRC): Sample size is increased to 182 warehouses in 29 cities from the previous 134 warehouses in 26 cities.
Medium plate: Sample size is increased to 217 warehouses in 65 cities from the previous 132 warehouses in 31 cities.
Source:Mysteel Global
