Posted on 06 Feb 2026
Retail inventories of the five major carbon steel products in warehouses across China regularly checked by Mysteel rose for the fifth consecutive week over January 30-February 5, 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 climbed by 5.2% or 776,500 tonnes to reach 15.85 million tonnes as of February 5, the survey results showed. During the previous week to January 29, the tonnage had mounted by a slower 2.7% or 399,900 tonnes to reach 15.08 million tonnes, as Mysteel Global reported.
The pace of accumulation was almost double last week's as some market participants had left the market early to begin their Chinese New Year holidays, also as reported. This significantly dampened both actual downstream demand and spot transactions for finished steel items, according to market sources.
For instance, the daily spot trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's tracking plummeted by 29.1% or 20,839 tonnes/day on week to hit 50,654 t/d over January 28-February 4.
Among the five finished steel products, the stocks of rebar, wire rod, HRC and CRC recorded on-week gains during the survey week, while those of medium plates declined from the week before, the results indicated.
The sluggish spot trading of long steel products was the primary reason for the inventory accumulation, as stocks of both rebar and wire rod recorded double-digit on-week increases and accounted for 89.8% of the total rise, Mysteel Global calculated based on the survey result.
Specifically, rebar inventories had climbed by 10.5% or 550,400 tonnes on week to reach 5.79 million tonnes as of February 5, while stocks of wire rod had mounted by 10.8% or 147,200 tonnes on week to 1.51 million tonnes as of the same day.
The lacklustre demand also weighed on finished steel prices to some extent. For example, on February 4 Mysteel assessed the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at Yuan 3,309/tonne ($477/t) including the 13% VAT, edging down by Yuan 3/t on week, while that of Q235 4.75mm HRC slid by Yuan 4/t on week to hit Yuan 3,291/t including the 13% VAT.
Similarly, finished steel inventories held by traders in Mysteel's smaller sample of 35 cities also mounted sizably on week. The same survey showed that stocks had registered 9.4 million tonnes as of February 5, climbing by 5.6% or 496,800 tonnes from one week prior.
Source:Mysteel Global
