Posted on 22 May 2026
Inventories of the five major carbon steel products held by the Chinese steel mills sampled in Mysteel's regular survey mounted during the week of May 15-21 to reach 4.3 million tonnes. This marked an on-week rise of 3% and offset the previous week's decline.
The five major steel items comprise rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil and medium plate. Apart from the dip in inventories of medium plate, stocks of the other major steel items increased by varying degrees during the survey period, the findings showed.
The accumulation in total steel stocks held by the mills was mainly blamed on slowing demand from end-users. Heavy rains in southern China, for example, have disrupted construction activity on building sites, causing steel purchases to slow, Mysteel Global learned.
The findings were in line with Mysteel's other survey, which showed that over May 14-20, the combined daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses nationwide tracked by Mysteel averaged 92,240 tonnes/day, sliding by 12,031 t/d or 11.5% from the prior week.
The continuous rise in mills' finished steel production also resulted in their higher in-plant steel inventories. Over May 14-20, total output of the five major steel products among the sampled steelmakers came in at 8.62 million tonnes, mounting for the second week by 2.6% on week.
With the softened demand, China's steel prices lost further ground this week. On May 20, Mysteel assessed the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at Yuan 3,440/tonne ($508/t) including the 13% VAT, falling by Yuan 61/t from one week earlier. At the same time, that of Q235 4.75mm HRC nationwide under Mysteel's assessment declined by Yuan 45/t on week to Yuan 3,443/t including the13% VAT.
Meanwhile, inventories of the five major steel products at traders' warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities monitored by Mysteel eased further over May 15-21 to stand at 19.04 million tonnes. However, the on-week decrease narrowed to 2.2% as against the fall of 3.7% over the prior week, according to the survey.
Source:Mysteel Global
