Posted on 05 Jul 2021
Stocks of the five major finished steel products at the 184 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s weekly survey mounted for the fourth week over June 24-30, the data show. Respondents cited the poor demand from end-users, though output among domestic steel mills had also decreased at a faster pace during the same period.
Total inventories of the five major steel products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate at the surveyed mills registered 6.7 million tonnes as of June 30, up another 1.3% on week.
The on-week growth in mills’ stocks was much lower compared with the previous rise of 5.5% on week, as many steelmakers in North and East China have been observing production restrictions for pollution control during celebrations marking the centenary of the Communist Party of China on July 1.
Over June 24-30, finished steel production among the surveyed 184 mills fell for the second week to 10.6 million tonnes, sliding at the faster pace of 4.6% on week against the 0.3% on-week decrease during the prior week. Among the total, output of rebar posted the sharpest fall in volume, down 248,200 tonnes on week to a three-month low of 3.53 million tonnes over June 24-30.
“Domestic steel mills could not gain too much profit on long steel sales, and their enthusiasm for production also waned in sync with the thinning demand from steel buyers,” a market source in Shanghai said.
Finished steel sales in the spot market contracted further over June 24-30 with the frequent rainfalls in South and East China and high temperatures in North China. The daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese traders Mysteel tracks declined by another 12,185 tonnes/day or 6.4% on week to average 179,126 t/d.
Stocks of the five major steel items at the commercial warehouses Mysteel checks in 132 cities nationwide also swelled for the third week to 22.8 million tonnes over June 25-July 1. The stocks total was up by another 2.3% on week, against the growth of 1.7% on week over the prior week and reflected the stagnant demand from end-users.
China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, which had been hovering around Yuan 4,950/tonne ($766/t) over the past week, had softened to Yuan 4,939/t including the 13% VAT as of June 30, lower by another Yuan 34/t on week, according to Mysteel’s assessment.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhangwd@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
Table 1 Five major steel products stocks at mills (Jun 24-30)
|
Product |
Volume ('000 t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
3,557.9 |
1.1% |
15.4% |
3.5% |
|
Wire rod |
951.2 |
6.5% |
32.0% |
22.6% |
|
HR sheet |
1,097.5 |
1.8% |
12.1% |
5.8% |
|
CR sheet |
334.6 |
-0.2% |
5.6% |
0.0% |
|
Medium plate |
794.6 |
-3.1% |
2.8% |
-8.9% |
|
Total |
6,735.8 |
1.3% |
14.7% |
4.3% |
Table 2 Five major steel products stocks at traders (Jun 25-Jul 1)
|
Product |
Volume (million t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
11.36 |
3.0% |
6.9% |
-1.5% |
|
Wire rod |
3.18 |
1.2% |
0.9% |
-14.8% |
|
HR sheet |
3.88 |
2.6% |
10.5% |
17.2% |
|
CR sheet |
1.88 |
0.8% |
0.8% |
3.8% |
|
Medium plate |
2.47 |
0.7% |
8.2% |
39.4% |
|
Total |
22.77 |
2.3% |
6.2% |
2.8% |
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
