Posted on 29 Aug 2025
Inventories of the five major finished steel products held by Chinese traders under Mysteel's tracking rose for the seventh consecutive week over August 22-28 by 3% or by 494,100 tonnes on week to 16.87 million tonnes.
The five comprise rebar, wire rod, medium plate, hot-rolled coil (HRC) and cold-rolled coil (CRC) that are held in commercial warehouses in the 132 cities Mysteel regularly monitors, with stocks of each of the five steel items last week continuing to post on-week rises, according to Mysteel's latest survey.
Among them, rebar and wire rod stocks posted the largest rises, with those of the former by Thursday mounting by 4.4% or 279,700 tonnes on week to 6.71 million tonnes, a 3.5-month high, while the latter gained 4.2% or 72,700 tonnes on week to 1.81 million tonnes, Mysteel's statistics indicated.
The persistent weakness in actual steel demand during the summer lull remained the primary cause of the stock rise, Mysteel Global noted, as scorching weather and heavy rains continued to disrupt outdoor construction activities, causing building contractors to delay ordering steel, as reported.
Over August 21-27, the daily spot sales of construction steel items comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses Mysteel regularly tracks averaged 94,576 tonnes/day, lower by a sizeable 5.6% from the last week of July.
On the other hand, Chinese steel mills continued steady production amid healthy profit margins. The combined production of the five major steel items in the 184 steel mills under Mysteel's tracking over August 21-27 reached 8.85 million tonnes, up by 0.75% or 65,500 tonnes on week.
The weakened market fundamentals served to soften finished steel prices but only slightly, Mysteel Global notes. On August 27, Mysteel assessed China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at Yuan 3,334/tonne ($467/t) including the 13% VAT, down by a tiny Yuan 4/t on week.
Meanwhile, inventories of the five steel products among traders in Mysteel's smaller sample across only 35 cities also swelled by 2.9% or 291,700 tonnes on week to 10.46 million tonnes by Thursday, also based on Mysteel's latest survey.
Source:Mysteel Global
