Posted on 30 Jun 2025
Inventories of the five major carbon steel products held by the Chinese steel mills sampled in Mysteel's regular survey rose by 1.8% on week during June 20-26 to reach 4.34 million tonnes, bringing an end to the continuous fall over the previous four weeks.
The five steel items comprise rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate. During the survey period, inventories of most steel items accumulated by varying degrees, except for an on-week dip of 0.3% in inventories of CRC, the survey results showed.
Some Chinese steel mills resumed production during the survey period after completing maintenance on their steelmaking facilities, a factor which led their steel inventories to mount, Mysteel Global noted.
During June 19-25, total production of the five steel items among the sampled steelmakers increased for a second week to reach 8.81 million tonnes, rising by 1.4% from the prior week.
In parallel, domestic steel demand from end-users remained weak due to the high temperatures and frequent rainfalls in most regions of China, and transactions of finished steel in the spot market hovered low, especially for construction steel.
Over June 19-25, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses nationwide under Mysteel's regular tracking averaged 95,451 tonnes/day, down by 2,660 t/d or 2.7% on week.
China's finished steel prices weakened further this week, with the national average price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, falling by Yuan 28/tonne ($3.9/t) on week to Yuan 3,196/t including the 13% VAT as of June 25, according to Mysteel's assessment. That of Q235 4.75mm HRC slipped by Yuan 15/t during the same period to Yuan 3,218/t including the VAT.
Inventories of the five major steel items at warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities tracked by Mysteel continued declining during June 20-26, with the total tonnage down for the seventh straight week by a tiny 0.1% on week at 14.8 million tonnes, according to the survey.
Source:Mysteel Global
