Posted on 16 Mar 2026
Inventories of the five major carbon steel products held by the Chinese steel mills sampled in Mysteel's regular survey witnessed a slight rise over March 6-12 to reach 5.52 million tonnes, edging up 0.5% on week after the dip of 0.3% during the prior week.
The five major steel items comprise rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil and medium plate. During the survey period, inventories of rebar, wire rod and medium plate increased by varying degrees, offsetting the decline in stocks of HRC and CRC, the findings showed.
Some domestic steel mills, especially electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmakers, resumed operations this week after completing maintenance on their production lines, the survey results showed. This led to the continuous rise in their finished steel output and the accumulation in their in-plant inventories, Mysteel Global noted.
Over March 5-11, production of the five major steel items among the sampled steelmakers totaled 8.21 million tonnes, increasing for a second week and by 3% on week.
Although many end-users had restarted work after the Lantern Festival on March 3, their demand for steel products has not yet fully recovered. The wait-and-see sentiment prevailing in the domestic steel market prompted many end-users to only purchase based on actual needs rather than restocking in quantity.
Mysteel's other survey showed that over March 5-11, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses nationwide under its tracking averaged 86,320 tonnes/day.
This was still rather low for the traditional peak season for steel consumption in March, even though it was 36,684 t/d higher compared to the average for March 2-4.
Mysteel suspended the release of construction steel trading volume data for February 9–28 due to subdued spot market activity during the Chinese New Year period.
China's finished steel prices recovered slightly this week, driven by cost support and the ongoing geopolitical conflict in the Middle East. As of March 11, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar had increased by Yuan 18/tonne ($2.6/t) on week to reach Yuan 3,317/t including the 13% VAT, and that of Q235 4.75mm HRC by Yuan 17/t to Yuan 3,283/t including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Inventories of the five major steel products at traders' warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities monitored by Mysteel continued rising during March 6-12 to top 23.9 million tonnes. However, the on-week growth had slowed to 1.7% as against the rise of 7.8% over the prior week, indicating a gradual recovery in demand, according to the survey.
Source:Mysteel Global
