Posted on 30 May 2025
The stocks of finished steel products at trading houses across China under Mysteel's survey declined for a third week during May 23-29, down 3.2% on week, the latest data show.
The faster fall in stocks, compared with the prior week's 2.5% drop, was attributed to end-users replenishing their inventories ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday weekend (over May 31-June 2), survey respondents said, noting that actual demand remained bleak nevertheless, with the hot and rainy weather in parts of the country impacting construction work.
As of Thursday, total inventories of the five finished steel items comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate held by traders in the 132 Chinese cities Mysteel tracks had decreased by 507,000 tonnes on week to hit a four-month low of 15.2 million tonnes.
Among the five major items, rebar stocks saw the sharpest on-week decline, with the volume falling by 324,600 tonnes on week to about 6 million tonnes by Thursday, according to the survey. The pace had quickened from the 200,800 tonnes-drop in the prior period.
Behind the faster thinning of rebar stocks was also lower output last week, a market source suggested. This was borne out by Mysteel's survey among the 137 Chinese steel mills it follows, which showed that over May 22-28, their total rebar production had shrunk by 2.6% or 59,700 tonnes on week to reach 2.26 million tonnes.
Another market source based in Southeast China's Fujian noted that persistent rains have been hindering steel procurement by local building contractors, predicting that this may result in slower destocking afterwards.
The inventories of finished steel products in Mysteel's smaller sample across just 35 cities thinned further this week, sliding by 2.9% or 280,200 tonnes on week to 9.3 million tonnes by Thursday.
Source:Mysteel Global
