Posted on 16 Jan 2026
Retail inventories of the five major finished steel products in warehouses across China regularly checked by Mysteel held largely steady on week over January 9-15, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
The combined stocks of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate held by traders in commercial warehouses in the 132 cities Mysteel regularly monitors had edged up by 0.2% or 25,500 tonnes on week to 14.56 million tonnes as of January 15.
Among the five carbon steel products, rebar and wire rod recorded on-week rises in their inventories during the survey week, while stocks of the three flat steel products all declined during the same period, the survey results indicated.
Specifically, rebar inventories had climbed by 1.7% or 77,200 tonnes on week to reach 4.74 million tonnes as of January 15, while stocks of wire rod had mounted by 8.3% or 97,500 tonnes on week to 1.27 million tonnes as of the same day.
Given the steelmakers' largely steady output of long products this week, one reason for the inventory growth in construction steel items was the sudden contraction in demand from building contractors as low temperatures impacted large areas of China, a Shanghai-based analyst noted. This resulted in lower spot transactions this week.
The daily spot trading volume of long steel products comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged 90,225 tonnes/day over January 8-14, down significantly by 9.7% or 9,714 t/d on week.
Domestic finished steel prices remained firm overall amid warm market sentiment this week, according to Mysteel's weekly report.
For instance, Mysteel assessed the national average price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at Yuan 3,342/tonne ($480/t) including the 13% VAT on January 14, higher by Yuan 6/t from one week prior. During the same period, the national average price of Q235 4.75mm HRC had slipped by Yuan 3/t on week to Yuan 3,307/t including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Similarly, finished steel inventories held by traders in Mysteel's smaller sample of 35 cities also witnessed minimal on-week growth. The same survey showed that stocks had registered 8.66 million tonnes as of January 15, nudging up by 0.1% or 11,600 tonnes from the previous week.
Source:Mysteel Global
