Posted on 13 Jun 2025
Total stocks of the five major finished steel products at Chinese trading houses in the 132 cities under Mysteel's tracking decreased for the fifth straight week over June 6-12, mainly due to lower production among steelmakers and reduced procurement by traders, according to the latest weekly survey. Yet behind the destocking, demand from end-users stayed poor.
As of Thursday, inventories of these products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, and medium plate at the surveyed trading houses had thinned by 0.8% or 127,200 tonnes on week to about 14.96 million tonnes, the lowest since late January. The fall in stocks was also in sync with the downtrend in mills' finished steel production.
Another Mysteel survey among the 184 Chinese steel mills it monitors showed that their production of these five major steel products during June 5-11 reached a three-month low of 8.59 million tonnes, or down 2.4% or 215,300 tonnes from the prior week, as both integrated makers and electric-furnace mills have been trimming output in response to falling demand and squeezed steel margins.
Among the five products, rebar stocks fell the most during the survey week, easing by 119,200 tonnes to 5.7 million tonnes, while stocks of wire rod also dropped by 16,800 tonnes on week to 1.4 million tonnes, Mysteel's data indicated.
Many steel traders hold a wait-and-see stance towards the current market as demand has been weakening due to the humid summer weather affecting much of the country. Meanwhile, last weekend's national college entrance exams (over June 7-9) had also caused many construction contractors to suspend building work to reduce noise for students, a survey respondent said.
Over June 5-11, spot sales of long steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses across China that Mysteel checks averaged 102,119 tonnes/day, lower by 6.6% or 7,266 t/d on week.
Inventories of these five steel products under Mysteel's smaller-scale survey on trading houses in 35 cities also slid by 0.4% or 35,300 tonnes on week to 9.27 million tonnes as of Thursday.
Source:Mysteel Global
