Posted on 13 Jul 2026
Inventories of the five major carbon steel products held by the Chinese steel mills sampled in Mysteel's regular survey thinned slightly during the period of July 3-9 to reach 4.5 million tonnes, lower for a second week but only by a tiny 0.3% on 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 long steel accumulated, while those of flats declined by varying degrees, the findings showed.
Construction steel demand remained weak during the period, prompting some long steel producers to slow their pace of production, Mysteel Global noted.
Mysteel's other survey showed that over July 2-8, the combined daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses nationwide under its tracking averaged 92,025 tonnes/day, down by 937 t/d from the prior week.
Total production of the five major steel items also declined, mainly due to a significant fall in long steel output, which contributed to the further decrease in steel inventories held by the mills.
Over July 2-8, total output of the five major steel products among the sampled makers registered 8.47 million tonnes, falling by 2% on week.
On the other hand, inventories of the five products held by Chinese traders climbed higher this week, confirming the lackluster demand of end users. As of July 9, the tonnage stocked at traders' warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities monitored by Mysteel totaled 19.3 million tonnes, rising for the third consecutive week by 0.7% on week, according to the survey.
Domestic steel prices hovered low amid the weak end-user demand. On July 8, Mysteel assessed the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at Yuan 3,289/tonne ($484/t) including the 13% VAT, edging down Yuan 2/t from one week earlier. During the same period, the average price of Q235 4.75mm HRC nationwide under Mysteel's assessment had slipped by Yuan 4/t on week to Yuan 3,324/t including the 13% VAT.
Source:Mysteel Global
