Posted on 07 Jul 2025
Inventories of the five major carbon steel products held by the Chinese steel mills sampled in Mysteel's regular survey returned to the downtrend during June 27-July 3 after the rise over the prior week, with the total tonnage reaching 4.24 million tonnes, falling by 2.2% on week.
The five steel items comprise rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate. Inventories of most steel products slipped by varying degrees this week, while the stocks of HRC continued to mount slightly, the findings showed.
The decrease in mills' total steel stocks was mainly attributed to the resilient demand from end-users, and sentiment in domestic steel market improved with the better performance in ferrous futures market, Mysteel Global learned.
Transactions in the physical market recovered this week, with 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 reaching 106,821 tonnes/day on average over June 26-July 2, rising by 11,370 t/d or 11.9% from the previous week.
China's finished steel prices in both physical and futures markets strengthened recently, with the national average price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, reaching Yuan 3,228/tonne ($451/t) including the 13% VAT as of July 2, higher by Yuan 32/t on week, according to Mysteel's assessment.
On July 2, the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for October delivery closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 3,065/t, increasing by Yuan 95/t from the settlement price on June 25.
Some Chinese steel mills resumed operation after completing the maintenance on their steelmaking facilities. Over June 26-July 2, total production of the five major steel items among the sampled steelmakers registered 8.85 million tonnes, up for the third consecutive week by 0.5% on week.
Inventories of the five major steel items at warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities tracked by Mysteel increased slightly to reach 14.93 million tonnes over June 27-July 3, edging up 0.9% on week and ending the continuous fall over the prior seven weeks, the survey results showed.
Source:Mysteel Global