Posted on 30 Jun 2025
Finished steel inventories held by Chinese traders continued to shrink over June 20-26, marking the seventh consecutive weekly decline, according to Mysteel's latest survey. However, the pace of the decrease slowed sharply to just 0.1% from 0.9% the week before. The milder drop was largely attributed to weakening demand amid the hot and rainy weather in many parts of the country, as well as increased production at domestic mills, a market source explained.
As of Thursday, total stocks of the five major finished steel products – rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC), and medium plate – at trading houses in the 132 cities tracked by Mysteel had dipped by 19,100 tonnes on week to 14.8 million tonnes.
Among the five items, the stocks of rebar, HRC, and medium plate recorded on-week declines. Rebar saw the largest fall, down by 26,800 tonnes at 5.61 million tonnes, though this was narrower than the 67,600-tonne drop in the previous week.
In contrast, inventories of wire rod and CRC rose during the same period. Wire rod stocks climbed by 41,800 tonnes to 1.44 million tonnes, while CRC edged up by a tiny 200 tonnes to 2.25 million tonnes, the survey showed.
Mysteel's survey among the 237 Chinese trading houses it follows showed that their daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil averaged a low 95,451 tonnes/day over June 19-25, slipping by 2,660 t/d or 2.7% on week – a symptom of the gradual decline in trading activity amid the seasonal summer lull in steel demand.
Meanwhile, rising output at steel mills also contributed to the slower inventory drawdown. Production of the five major steel products among the 184 Chinese mills surveyed by Mysteel increased for the second consecutive week over June 19-25, rising by 1.4% or 124,800 tonnes on week to reach nearly a two-month high of 8.81 million tonnes.
Also by Thursday, the finished steel inventories in Mysteel's smaller sample across 35 cities decreased by a small 0.7% or 66,000 tonnes on week to 9.07 million tonnes.
Source:Mysteel Global
